Damascus
by drakensis
Summary: When the fate of the world rests upon the shoulders of one person, best to hope that it isn't a blind, chi-crippled child...
1. Introduction

In the middle ages, swords of Damascus steel were legendary for their sharpness and strength. The technique of forging has been lost, but used monsoon winds and wind turbulence to increase the heat in forges, as well as mixing in glass to bind and then remove impurities. Purified with glass, which is of Earth, forged in Fire and Air, cooled in Water, these swords are an excellent metaphor for the Avatar... and even more for the one in _this_ story.

**Summary**

When the fate of the world rests upon the shoulders of one person, best to hope that it isn't a blind, chi-crippled child...

**Disclaimer**

This fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon, created by Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko. It is neither endorsed nor licensed by those fine gentlemen and may not be used for any commercial purpose whatsoever. Any further circulation of this work must be acceptable under the terms of Creative Commons Licensing (and it would be kind of you to notify me).

**Acknowledgements**

First and foremost I have to acknowledge Vathara's fanfic Embers. I didn't think much of Avatar, the first few times I tried to watch it. His story convinced me that I was missing something and convinced me to give it another try. And then, as anyone who knows me would have guessed, inspiration started dropping plot bunnies down the back of my shirt collar.

Similarly, thanks are due to soulgriever13, for pointing me to Embers, for batting plot back and forth and answering some questions I had that the show had not yet answered for me.

I'm not a big one for theme songs, but I found that Meatloaf's album Bat out of Hell III had songs applicable to Mai (Blind as a Bat), Toph (Seize the Night) and Zuko (Alive). Overall though, if Damascus has a theme song it would be Follow by Breaking Benjamin.

I am also grateful for the supportive reviews and criticisms I received from the Drunkard's Walk, , The Freedom Stone and The Fanfiction Forum internet forums. This would not have been the same story without them.

Having Damascus recommended on TV Tropes (Avatar Fanfiction, AU section) was a huge lift in the third week of writing the story.

And of course, the story might have never been begun were it not for the motivational power of NaNoWriMo. This is my fifth annual entry and the third to hit the target number of words. Now if I can just finish it...

**Dedication**

To Clare, who embarked on the next great adventure November 6th, 2009. God bless.

.oOo. Fire .oOo.

.oOo. Air .oOo.

.oOo. Water .oOo.

.oOo. Earth .oOo.

The first time that Mai saw Toph Bei Fong, the younger girl was standing in the throne room of Omashu. Modifications were still underway, converting the chamber from the relatively simple arrangement favoured under Mad King Bumi towards the Fire Nation's traditional elevated throne and fire pits. For now, however, the workmen had been banished and soldiers lined the walls while Mai's father sat on an elaborately carved wooden chair that she had seen in his study at home.

Toph herself had four guards accompanying her: two had preceded her into the room and then stood aside, flanking the doors - and to Mai's eyes, nervously aware that each had a Fire Nation soldier stood discreetly behind them, ready to strike them down. The other two followed Toph as she walked down the centre of the room towards the Mai's family. One cleared his throat and as if signalled, Toph halted at the appropriate distance from the Governor for a noble petitioner.

Mai's eyes narrowed. No, that _was_ a signal. The tiny girl - barely waist-high to her towering guards had a film of milky-white over the more expected green that was common in the Earth Kingdom, and they disconcertingly failed to focus upon those in front of her. She was blind.

"So cute," Mai's mother Seung whispered and the fire maiden's lips twitched. Indeed. Ty Lee would have had a pink ribbon around the Earth Kingdom girl's throat in an instant, and probably romped with her like a puppy after no more than a minute. Toph's raven dark hair was elaborately bound up behind her head and contrasted with her porcelain-like complexion and the pale yellow gown and creamy girdle that she wore. Weak colours, Mai calculated. Making her look vulnerable and unthreatening. Her choices? Unlikely if she's blind, but who then?

"Lady Toph Bei Fong," the Governor greeted her formally, inclining his head slightly. "I am curious to hear what brings a daughter of your clan into the newest stronghold of the Fire Nation."

Toph dropped to one knee and lowered her head. By Agni, Mai thought boredly. Eyelashes too? Her mother squealed again at the cuteness, causing Mai's brother Tom-Tom to squirm excitedly in their mother's arms.

"Lord Governor, with the triumph of the Fire Nation in securing Omashu, my father has concluded that the time has come for the Bei Fong to seek closer ties with the conquerors," Toph recited sweetly. "I have been sent here in token of his hopes for a new relationship."

"Hmm." Mai's father leant back in his chair. Although she could not see it, Mai knew that his face had stilled to mask his calculations. Pointless, particularly since the girl in front of him couldn't see his face. "You father offers an alliance?"

"Lord Governor, an alliance would be between equals," Toph replied, evading the trap neatly. "What my father offers is his allegiance." She reached delicately into her girdle and produced a small scroll.

That wasn't a recitation, Mai noted. She might have been briefed, but she's no talking doll. At her father's nod she stepped forwards and reached out for the scroll but as her hand reached it, Toph's hand moved slightly - clearly questing for the hand to receive the scroll, moving it outside of Mai's closing fingers. "Hold still," the older girl instructed flatly and pulled the document away from Toph, not bothering to wait for her father's instructions before cracking the seal.

It only took her a moment to decipher to contents before handing it over to her father to peruse. Rats deserting a sinking ship. And sacrificing their daughter for their own prosperity. How tedious.

Lady Seung leant over and read the scroll over her husband's shoulder. Usually it would be a shocking breach of protocol, but then, how would Toph know. "Ooh!" she squealed. "Of course you can stay here, Lady Bei Fong! I'm sure Mai would love a new friend." Ah. That was how.

Her father hummed. "Yes, that would be best I think." He looked up. "Mai, Lord Bei Fong has sent his daughter here to ask for my assistance in arranging a suitable marriage for her within the Fire Nation's nobility when she is old enough. In the meantime," he smiled triumphantly, "he hopes that we will educate her in how to become a suitable young lady of the Fire Nation. Do you know what this means?"

"Mother has a new doll," Mai drawled under her breath and out of the corner of her eye saw Toph twitch. Good hearing.

"It means that the Bei Fong Clan, one of the leading names of the southern Kingdom want to _assimilate_," the Governor declared proudly. "Tell me, Lady Bei Fong, do you have a brother?"

Oh Great Agni, no! Mai thought. Bad enough to be trapped her in Omashu. Marriage to some Earth Kingdom bumpkin? Unthinkable.

"No, Lord Governor. I am an only child," Toph replied evenly. Thank you, Agni.

"Hmm. A shame. Still, that would make you the heir to your family, wouldn't it? Whoever marries you is going to be very lucky young man." Colour appeared on Toph's face, high on her cheeks.

Seung giggled. "Oh, she's just a little girl, dear." She turned her attention to Toph. "Tell me child, are you a bender?"

Mai could read regret in Toph's posture. "No, my lady. I have been taught some of the exercises, for health reasons, but I cannot bend."

"Ah, well that would have made matters a little awkward. It would be best if you didn't practise the earth bending exercises any more, Lady Bei Fong. Perhaps Mai can teach you some of the fire bending equivalents."

"I would like that," Toph agreed, smiling - a little nervously - but even so, the first smile to cross her face since she had entered the throne room.

.oOo.

"Now Mai, Toph and I want your honest opinion on this," Lady Seung called from behind the changing screen.

"Mm-hmm," Mai agreed from the couch and scooped a handful of fire flakes out of the bowl she held, bracing herself. Her mother had insisted on bringing chest after chest of clothes with them, even those long packed away as far too small for Mai and decidedly the wrong garments to dress Tom-Tom in once he was old enough. Still, the arrival of Toph made it somewhat convenient to have all the spare clothes around - perhaps an act of genuine foresight by her mother. Ha ha. So funny that Mai forgot to laugh.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Toph stumbled a little coming out from behind the screen, probably due to the elaborate ankle boots that had replaced the simple sandals that she had worn earlier under her gown. Red breeches and a heavy looking tunic that Mai thought had started out as part of her uniform at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.

"Well?" demanded Seung eagerly.

Mai paused. "Adorable," she drawled. "But you'll have to do something with her hair." She could have sworn that a panicked look crossed Toph's face but it was quickly replaced by the solemn expression that Mai was beginning to suspect was a mask.

"Well of course," her mother fluttered. "Do you remember how Azula had her hair?" She touched Toph familiarly on the shoulder. "That's Princess Azula, the Fire Lord's daughter. She and Mai were great friends when they were younger. Come and help me, Mai."

She took another mouthful of fire flakes before obeying, brushing Toph's hair back and allowing her mother to pull free the bangs that framed the younger girl's face before pulling the hair into a topknot. The hairpiece that her mother handed her to use was one she'd been given by Prince Zuko - probably picked out by _his_ mother but still - and she cursed herself for hesitating before fastening it.

"Now, what do you think?" Seung carolled and pulled Toph in front of - oh surely not! - the room's single, tall mirror.

She saw Toph blink, and just as Mai was about to say something cutting, the younger girl tilted her head and asked: "Is that me?" in wonderstruck tones.

"Of course it is, Toph," the older woman declared proudly. "You're the very image of a fine young fire maiden. You'll have young men beating their way to your door in no time." She swept off towards the door. "I'll leave the two of you to get to know each other."

Mai waited until her mother was out of earshot before commenting. "'Is that me'?"

"That's what I'd say if I looked any different." Toph giggled and waved one hand in front of her face. "I don't look like a clown do I?"

"She's right. Except for your eyes, you could walk down any street in the Fire Nation and no one would look twice at you." She shrugged and held out her bowl. "Fire flake?"

Mai watched Toph cross the room cautiously and after seeing her reach uncertainly for the bowl, positioned it in front of Toph's questing fingers. Fingers that seemed if anything more calloused than her own. She hadn't thought that Earth Kingdom girls were trained to fight, but perhaps the earth bending styles were harder on the fingers.

A little blind girl was the most interesting thing in all Omashu, and wasn't that pathetic?

.oOo.

"You're too balanced," Mai advised from her seat on the steps outside the palace. This was Toph's third lesson in the fire bending style and the first where she'd tried more than breathing exercises. Thus far it wasn't actually going too badly. Having walked Toph through the moves, physically guiding her through each step, Mai had been impressed at how closely the young girl had managed to repeat them without that guidance.

"How can I be _too_ balanced?" Toph asked, sounding surprised. "My teachers always said balance was everything."

"Yeah. Earth bender teachers. You're not doing that any more." Mai stood and walked over towards her student. "Fire bending is all about power and the greatest power comes from creating an imbalance and directing it to your advantage. Like my brother walking."

Toph frowned. "Your brother?"

"Tom-Tom's just learning to toddle. When he walks he throws himself forward creating an imbalance that should have him fall on his face. Then he pushes his legs forward and rides the imbalance. It's the same for fire benders: they use their imbalance to power their attacks."

"But what about defence?"

Mai shook her head. "The best defence is to destroy your enemies before they can strike you down. Fire bending is aggressive." She looked around and the building work and nodded. "Come this way."

Toph frowned and then followed Mai as she walked towards one of the stone pillars that were being replaced by steel buttresses for the new palace. This one was still standing. "Look at... uh, touch this pillar. This is balanced, right."

The younger girl ran her hands over the carefully shaped stones. "It had better be, or it would topple over."

"What if it did?" Mai asked. "What if it was off balance and it fell? You can imagine the destructive force that would be unleashed on whatever was underneath it. Stone hammering against stone, crushing everything between them and the ground."

Toph grinned. "Yes, I can."

"Well, if it was balanced, it wouldn't fall. Fire benders create and use imbalance. Our arts are the same way. Don't cling to balance, release it... and unleash power." Mai took Toph by the shoulders and pushed her into place. "Now try again, and stop being so static."

Toph nodded and began to move through the kata. Still slow, still somewhat stiffly, but now with just the beginnings of the energy that Mai had been looking for. "Again, faster!" Toph obediently repeated the moves, but she wasn't showing any more energy - her control was impressive, Mai admitted: every move was exactly placed the same way as the first time. Which was the problem. "Too rooted, let go of the ground."

"I thought you wanted to teach me the fire bending arts, not the air bending ones?" called Toph, still repeating the moves flawlessly. She had stamina at least.

"Exaggerate, think about fire dancing?"

"Fire dances?"

Mai shrugged. She'd heard the term from Zuko. Actual dancing wasn't something she could claim any experience of. And it wasn't as if Toph would have ever seen a flame flicker the way that most people had. "Try putting some passion into it."

Toph frowned but obeyed. The whirling moves grew sloppier, but more energetic. "I suppose that that's better. Are you tired?"

"Shouldn't I ask that?" Toph asked. "I mean, sitting down watching me do this must be very tiring."

"Hmm. Keep going then." It wasn't like there was anything else for her to do.

Round and round the Earth girl went. Hmm. Earth girl. She didn't really look or act like any of the demure, dainty little girls Mai had seen among the Earth Kingdom families that remained in Omashu. The Earth Kingdom nobility apparently considered porcelain dolls the feminine ideal: pretty to look at but otherwise quiet and useless. Toph might act like that around Mai's parents, but it was becoming clear that she was a passionate girl underneath that mask... almost as fiery as the sparks...

Sparks?

Mai sat up sharply, eyes locked on the firefly sparks flying around Toph's fingers as she danced through the kata, topknot bouncing. There was a spreading grin on the blind girl's face but she seemed - no, probably was - oblivious to what was happening around her hands. Panting, exuberant. "Remember your breathing," Mai instructed, keeping her voice flat and even. This was unexpected. And interesting. "Your chi depends upon your breath."

Toph took an even breath and moved on, turning, hands wheeling and...

Whoosh.

It wasn't a lot of flame - Azula, fire bending prodigy that she was, would have heaped scorn upon the brief trickle of fire. But it was completely unexpected and Toph fell out of the form, barely staying on her feet as she blew hastily on her fingers. "What was that?" she exclaimed nervously. "Why didn't you warn me there was a candle there?"

"There isn't a candle there," Mai told her.

"But I burned my fingers," Toph protested, holding up the reddened tips of her fingers in proof. "I felt it."

"I'm sure you did," the fire maiden agreed. "But there isn't a candle there."

Toph frowned and then moved her hand gently through the air where she had just been burned. "Well what is it? There's some sort of fire - or there was. Did I knock it over?"

Mai pursed her lip. "Tell me, Toph. How long have you been a fire bender?"

"How long I've been a _what_?"


	2. Chapter One

"Why this is magnificent," Mai's father said in delight. "A fire bender? This will do wonders for your marriage prospects, Lady Bei Fong."

"Dear," his wife suggested. "Perhaps we should call her Toph. After all, she's practically part of the family." She planted Tom-Tom in a surprised Toph's lap and the toddler cooed, patting at the girl. Somewhat hesitantly, Toph held Mai's brother securely. "You see, Tom-Tom loves her."

"Hmm," the Governor said, and nodded. "That's true. Of course, it does raise another point. Fire benders are required to serve in the imperial army, from the age of fourteen. How old are you, Toph?"

"I'm ten," Toph said and Mai frowned slightly. She had guessed that Toph was a little older than that. Of course, fire benders usually first displayed signs of their abilities even younger than that. She wished for a moment that she had worked out Toph's tells but thus far she hadn't quite worked out how to identify when the younger girl was lying. Usually the eyes were the easiest cue, but Toph's blind eyes were almost as uninformative to others as they were to her.

"Well that gives you some time to prepare," he told her. "And I suppose that no one will expect a great deal of you, because of your blindness."

Toph blushed and ducked her head. Well, Mai thought she was blushing. She was beginning to suspect that Toph used that reaction to hide a number of emotions

"How remarkable though," he continued. "A fire bender from such a highly placed Earth Kingdom family. Do you know if any of your ancestors are from the Fire Nation, Toph?"

"I don't think so," she admitted. "I always got bored when they started talking about genny, genaloggies..."

"Genealogies?" Mai's father prompted.

"Yes, those. I don't think any of my grandparents or great-grandparents were from the Fire Nation, they were all from Gaoling," Toph said. "I'm not sure about longer ago."

"Hmm. And Gaoling hasn't really had all that much fighting near it," the Governor said thoughtfully. "How very strange. I suppose that your spirit must be simply so attuned to fire that you only needed the slightest hint to begin bending."

Or maybe several days teaching the basics, Mai noted dispassionately.

"Anyway, now we'll have to find a teacher for you. Mai can teach you the forms but you'll need a real fire bender to teach you how to bend. There are some good benders in the garrison. And Prince Zuko is touring the new territories. He will want to meet you."

Mai turned her back and walked out of the room.

.oOo.

"So what's the deal with this Prince Zuko?"

Mai blinked and looked up. It was a mark of her distraction that she hadn't noticed Toph returning to the rooms that they were sharing. Her parents had been more than glad to volunteer her to see that the blind girl didn't hurt herself. Or worse, make a noise and a nuisance of herself. They couldn't have that.

"You know him? Your mother mentioned a Princess Azula..." Toph was sitting on her own bed, wearing a nightdress - another of Mai's cast offs. She wasn't looking at Mai, the older girl had noticed that Toph often didn't bother to look and someone she was speaking to. She would have thought that that made it hard to hear but apparently not.

"Yes." Mai got out of bed and picked up her own night clothes. She must have missed dinner. "He's my age, the son of the Fire Lord Ozai. Azula is his little sister; she attended the Royal Fire Academy when I did. Their mother brought him to visit sometimes."

Toph nodded. "You didn't like him?"

Mai said nothing as she stripped off her robes.

"You did like him." She could see Toph's face moving as she thought. "But you don't like him any more?"

"It isn't your business."

Toph frowned. "So you aren't mad he's going to visit, you're mad because... ohhh."

"Which part of 'none of your business' didn't you understand?" Mai grumbled as she pulled on her own nightgown.

"The part where it isn't," Toph told her matter-of-factly. "You're pretty much the first friend I ever made - well the first that wasn't an animal, if they count."

"We've known each other for less than a week. That's -" Okay, so Azula had pretty much picked Ty Lee and herself as henchwomen within days of meeting them, but that wasn't the same, right? "- not all that long."

"I know. I never knew making friends was so easy." Toph hung her head a little. "Mom and dad didn't let me leave the house much, and that was just in the garden. With guards around. Anytime they had guests, I had to stay in my rooms so I almost never met anyone."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "I knew the Earth Kingdom was backwards, but I didn't realise they were that bad. Did they let you wear shoes?"

"Yes. Except I generally didn't." Toph wiggled her toes. "It makes it easier for me to find my way around."

"That was a joke. At school they taught me that the ideal Earth Kingdom woman was barefoot and pregnant."

"...if I wasn't supposed to be a fire maiden now, I think I'd be supposed to slap you for saying that."

Mai shrugged. "I don't think any of the teachers ever actually met anyone from the Earth Kingdom. The women I've met seem like they're supposed to be dolls - looking pretty, but always kept somewhere safe."

Toph hid her face. "That's sort of how they treated me. Dad said that I was delicate."

"You miss them, don't you?"

"No."

Ah. So _that_ was how Toph sounded when she was lying. Half-choked as if... Mai winced. Crying. Great. I made a little girl cry for her mother and father. Toph was lying down, facing away, shoulders shaking. Well this is going to do wonders for helping her to appreciate the Fire Nation. What would Azula do?

...okay, no. Bad plan. What would Ty Lee do in this situation? Ty is good with people; she'd know how to help her. She could... well, she'd... ugh.

Rather than going to her own bed, Mai walked over to Toph's and sat on it, resting one hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "If anyone asks about this, deny everything," she instructed, and then hugged her from behind.

.oOo.

Before the Omashu had surrendered to the Fire Nation, a great stone bridge had connected the surrounding mountains to the city's pinnacle of rock. It hadn't surprised many people when the bridge collapsed very shortly afterwards - Omashu _was_ home to many Earth benders after all. The new bridge, prepared in advance was made of metal, secured strongly at both ends. Its great mass did not even shake under the weight of the many komodo rhinos of Prince Zuko's entourage.

Mai frowned as Toph's fingers unerringly reached for the fire flakes. "I'm surprised you're more interested in food than in seeing your new sifu arrive." She thought a moment about what she'd just said and then sighed, holding the bowl out. "Never mind."

Toph smiled demurely and munched on the fire flakes. "I think I'm developing a liking for Fire Nation cuisine," she admitted. "So, is Prince Zuko hot and spicy too?"

Mai didn't bother glaring at her and skipped straight to pinching the other girl's cheek, causing several fire flakes to spill out of her mouth.

"What?" Toph mumbled, brushing the food delicately off her red and black robes. "We've already established that you have an unrequited crush on him and - okay, okay, let go of my cheek already."

"He's probably the most important person you're ever going to meet," Mai warned. "When he reaches the Governor's palace, expect him take father's chair while we kneel before him. He's very proud."

"Thanks."

Mai froze and then turned to look along the wall. Standing at the top of the stairs in military uniform, his helmet under one arm, Prince Zuko gave her a quirky smile. She looked back at the bridge, which the komodo-rhinos were still only halfway across. "Your highness." She dropped to her knees. "You're early."

"You can save that for the formal reception," Zuko told her, reaching down to - unnecessarily - help her back to her feet. "I couldn't sleep last night so I came on ahead and told my escort to catch up." He turned to Toph who was standing, half-frozen in surprise, face crimson. "Excuse me, could I have a moment with Mai please."

"Uh... sure, I'll just... wander along the wall a way..." Toph muttered.

Mai stared after the girl as she trotted along the top of the wall, resting one hand upon the crenellations to guide her. "Don't go too far, we have to return to the palace soon."

"I didn't know you had a little sister," Zuko noted. "I guess I don't know you as well as I thought I did."

Mai nodded slowly. "Apparently not."

He smiled. "It's good to see you, Mai. Two years seems like a long time. I was pleased when your father was appointed Governor here and I found out I would be visiting you."

"'We aren't children any more'," Mai said, causing him to flinch. "You were right."

"Yes," he agreed. "But I was also wrong. Just because we're adults doesn't mean that we have to change who we are. I know it can never be the same, but I'd like it if we can still be friends."

"So would I," Mai admitted. "How are your family?"

Zuko shrugged. "Same as ever. Azula and Lu Ten are feuding again."

"How predictable. What is it this time?"

"Your friend, Ty Lee. It seems that Lu Ten swept her off her feet last time he visited. She went back to the northern fleet with him."

Mai sighed. "She always did love a pretty face. I hope your cousin will be good to her."

"He's a good man, Mai," Zuko told her. "As far as I can tell he's as smitten by her as she is by him."

"The great romantic," she said sarcastically. It's not really about Ty Lee, she thought. It's the same as ever: power. Lu Ten stole Ty Lee away from Azula to score a point and now she wants revenge. "Your father would never approve of them marrying, you know. Lu Ten could be the next Fire Lord, so he has to marry a strong fire bender. If his father hadn't killed the last of the Dragons, young fire maidens would be hunting them down to win renown and earn his hand in marriage."

"Oh?" Zuko laughed. "Would you slay a dragon for my cousin if you were a fire bender? I'm sure that Ty Lee would be happy to share him with you."

"He's not my type."

"He isn't hot and spicy enough for you?"

Mai's cheeks reddened. "How long were you standing there, your highness?"

"Long enough to hear you avoid her question," Zuko admitted. "Was there something else I shouldn't have heard?"

"You're impossible."

.oOo.

"I must say, I don't understand why you're doing this, Prince Zuko," Mai's father admitted as he led the way up one of the rearmost towers of the palace. This particular tower was among the furthest along in conversion to modern standards, metal covering almost every surface. That was necessary, given its purpose. "He's a prestigious prisoner, I admit, but he's also a crazy old man."

"He's also one of the strongest, cleverest Earth benders ever. If he was ruler of the entire Earth Kingdom instead of that fool in Ba Sing Se, the war could be going very differently. Imagine if the Avatar had had his support when she fought the Three Dragons. My father himself admits it was a very close fight." Zuko shook his head. "I need to take his measure. Besides, don't you want to share the good news with him?" He gestured back towards where Mai and Toph were following the two men.

"Oh?" the Governor said. "Oh, I see," he claimed sagely and nodded.

Mai looked at the back of her father's head and rolled her eyes. It was blatantly clear that he didn't. Zuko smiled. "You're a fine administrator," he assured the older man. "My father couldn't have picked a better man to organise the rebuilding of Omashu. Mostly I want to discuss spiritual matters with the former King. If you feel your time is better spent elsewhere, I wouldn't presume to second-guess you."

Mai's father beamed. "Well, I wouldn't want to slight you, your highness, but perhaps I _should_ return to my other duties."

Zuko nodded encouragingly. "I'm sure that the guards can guide us. It has been very kind of you to make so much time for me, your excellency. Perhaps you and your family could dine with me this evening. The quarters you made available are very spacious," he leant in confidingly, "But perhaps a little quiet after spending two years in the military."

"I quite understand." Mai's father stepped aside and let the girls catch up. "Mai, please attend upon his Highness in my absence."

"...of course, dad."

.oOo.

Bumi, one time King of Omashu, was kept in a room with metal walls, ceiling and floor. On top of that, he had been locked inside an iron casket, with only a small window left to expose his face. His wrinkled face lit up in a gap toothed smile when he saw the door open to reveal Zuko, Mai and Toph. "Welcome, welcome. It's not often I get visitors up here, much less pretty girls!"

Zuko bowed. "King Bumi," he greeted the deposed ruler with aplomb. "I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. My companions are Lady Mai, whose father I believe you have met, and Lady Toph Bei Fong, who is from Gaoling."

"Picking the fairest flowers of two peoples, your highness? I can't say I blame you. Were I twenty years younger..."

"You would be old enough to be our great grandfather?" Mai asked sardonically.

Bumi cackled insanely. "Oh I like you. Sharp as those knives you don't think I can see up your sleeves. So, Prince Zuko, what brings you here to see an old man?"

Zuko reached into his belt and pulled a small token out from a cunningly concealed fold. "I was thinking that we might have a little conversation about the White Lotus," he said.

"Oh, do you play Pai Sho?" the old man asked in apparent delight but Mai could see - knew Zuko had seen - that the gambit had scored a mark somewhere.

"A little," Zuko admitted. "It's expected in a courtly upbringing. But we both know that the White Lotus isn't just a gambit in _that_ game, your majesty. My uncle Iroh was a very good player, as it happens. This particular token was his. This suggests to me that around twelve years ago, someone decided to sacrifice a piece. Or am I wrong?"

"Twelve years ago? I don't recall any special tournaments for Pai Sho that year," Bumi dissembled.

Zuko leant forwards, face very calm. "Let me speak plainly, Bumi. You don't mind if I call you Bumi, do you?"

"You go right ahead, Zuko," the old man invited. We're all friends here."

"For a hundred years, the Fire Nation has held the advantage in the War. Oh, we've had our defeats. But generally? We've been winning. And for most of that time, the Avatars have done nothing. The Air Avatar was a coward and the Avatar Kanna was almost as much of one, fighting only when she was cornered. And all that time the people of the Earth Kingdom were crying out for an Avatar to lead them to victory over the Fire Nation. To punish us."

"Did you and the rest of your society manoeuvre my uncle, my father and my grandfather to face the Avatar in order to arrange a new Avatar? Someone younger, more biddable, someone whose birth loyalties would be to the Earth Kingdom?"

Mai's eyes tightened. Bumi remained calm however. "If we were to do such a vile thing, Prince Zuko, I would have done so much earlier. In time for a young Avatar to grow to adulthood, to fully realise their potential by mastering all four elements. Not a mere twelve years before Sozin's Comet returns. In politics, as in bending, timing is all important."

Zuko considered this and then nodded, a smile crossing his face. "I see. That makes sense," he said, relaxing. "But I'm forgetting myself: locked up here, you can't have heard the good news."

"Good news?" Bumi asked curiously.

"Come forward Toph," Zuko said, looking welcomingly back at her. "Have you ever met King Bumi before?"

"No," Toph said as she approached fearlessly. "I never left Gaoling before I came here."

Zuko smiled. "Toph's a very high born girl," he told the captive king. "I'm sure you know what it means about her ancestry and her upbringing. Very traditional, very pure, totally of the Earth Kingdom. And yet, she's a fire bender. What does that mean, do you think?"

"I have never heard the like," admitted Bumi. "Are you sure?"

"Why don't you show him, Toph," Zuko suggested. "I'd like to see what you can do myself. Just step back a little. I wouldn't want you to scorch him at all."

Toph obediently backed up and began to work through the kata. "Ha!" she shouted at the completion, as a trickle of flame flowed from her fingers.

"Not bad for a beginner," cackled Bumi but there was something hollow about his expression. "How old are you, Toph?"

"I'm ten," she told him. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason." The old man turned to Zuko. "Obviously you have a theory, sonny-boy. Why don't you run it past me?"

"It means that you've lost," Zuko said confidently. "The people of the Earth Kingdom are adapting to our ways. Toph is only the first. Someday fire benders will replace the earth benders entirely. Your society, your ways, they will all be destroyed and the Fire Nation will have replaced them."

"That will never happen," Bumi declared. "The balance between the elements is shaken, yes. Your grandfather's massacre of the air benders has done that. But every action has a reaction, Prince Zuko. The Air Nomads were burned away, and in return, for a hundred years, the Fire Nation have been eroded away by this war, as though by a great and steady wind."

"Are you so sure?"

Bumi did not reply and Zuko laughed lightly. "That's what I thought."

"I don't begrudge you your bending, Lady Toph Bei Fong," Bumi told her, leaning forwards as much as he could. "I just don't think it means what sonny-boy here believes. Take joy in it."

"I will," Toph agreed quietly.

.oOo.

"How much did you teach her?" Zuko asked Mai after his first lesson with Toph.

"Two of the basic forms," she told him, leaning on the balustrade overlooking the courtyard where Toph was still drilling patiently under the sun. "She's lucky fire benders don't get sunstroke, training in this heat."

Zuko nodded and accepted a towel, rubbing vigorously at his hair, sweat soaked after his own exercise. "I've made it clear it's important she bathes after training sessions," he promised.

"Did you mention washing her hair?"

He blinked. "Wha- uh, no. I should have?"

Mai's lips quirked. "It would be wise."

"Right. She's learning quickly," Zuko admitted. "In some ways she's picking this up as fast as Azula." Which was remarkable. Azula was a prodigy - she'd been bending since she was four and these days she studied only with the ancient and learned, since only they had techniques that she had not yet mastered to offer. "But she's also frustratingly weak."

"Weak?"

"Well, she's still very early in her training," conceded the young Prince. "But usually power isn't something that young fire benders have to worry about: up to a certain point they're far more likely to wind up bending more fire than they can manage. It's one of the reasons that it can be dangerous to be around a novice. But take a look at how much fire she's using right now: no more than what she demonstrated when we were meeting King Bumi." He leant his elbows on the balustrade. "If someone challenges her to Agni Kai before she manages to release her strength, she'd be easy prey. It's worrying."

"I hadn't considered Agni Kai," Mai said thoughtfully, her mind racing. Toph was blind. She'd be almost entirely helpless if challenged to a duel.

"I know what you're thinking," he told her with a proud smile. "Actually I was concerned about that myself, but I don't think it would be a problem in an Agni Kai. We benders can feel our element, and I've been working with Toph on that. If anything, that's what impresses me most about her. She can almost read the fire - a few times she's even deduced my own position just from my fire. If she can master that then the only way anyone would beat her in an Agni Kai would be to refrain from using fire at all - and how many benders would that occur to?"

Mai nodded. "You like her," she observed lightly.

Zuko turned his head slightly, brow furrowed. "I suppose?"

"Not like that." Mai shuffled a little closer to him. "If it was someone else you would say it was 'unusual' or 'disappointing'. Instead you're worried for her."

"Oh." The prince nodded slowly. "I suppose I am. It's kind of nice, having someone look up to me. Call me sifu. Back home I was always the weakest. Looked down on a little. It wasn't until I joined the army that I realised I'm still better at bending than most. And I can't exactly hold classes in the army."

Mai nodded. "She will miss you when you leave," she told him noncommittally.

"I'll miss both of you," he admitted. "But I can't stay more than another day or so. Still, I'll be looping back through the area so maybe I can stop here on the way back. If..." he hesitated. "If you'd like me to."

Mai parted her lips... and the great gong in front of the palace began to sound, the booming noise rattling windows across the city.

"What's that?" Zuko asked in surprise. "An alarm?"

"Yes," Mai agreed. "Toph, come here!" she called down and then turned to the prince, bowing her head. "We should report to my father immediately. Whatever has happened, he will want to know where we are."

.oOo.

Mai's father looked as if he'd aged a decade in the hours since she had last seen him. In his hand a crude scroll - cheap parchment that had been tied with cord - was crumpled. "The resistance have grown too bold," he growled.

"What has happened?" Mai asked warily.

Her mother was upon her immediately. "You're alright. Oh, thank Agni at least one of my babies is safe."

Mai looked down at her sobbing mother, perplexed. Toph, less distracted, tilted her head to one side. "Where is Tom-Tom?" she asked, pointing at the wall to the nursery. "I can't hear him."

"The resistance has him," the governor growled, straightening the parchment and offering it to Zuko. "Your highness, the signature is that of Jet, one of their known leaders. He's young - and ruthless. He's threatened to kill my son unless we hand over a prisoner he deems to be of equal value."

Zuko frowned. "I suppose he makes some suggestions?" he asked and turned the parchment over. "Oh."

"Who?" Mai asked.

"Neither of these are acceptable," Zuko declared bleakly. "I'll do everything I can to recover your son, but you know that we can't accept those terms."

Mai patted her mother distractedly as the woman wept into her chest. "Who is this 'Jet' asking for?" she demanded.

Her father slumped into his chair. "He suggests either King Bumi... or Lady Toph."

"I'll go."

Eyes turned towards the speaker and Toph cleared her throat. "What? I like Tom-Tom. I'm not going to let anyone hurt him for my sake."

"I don't think you understand, Toph," Zuko said gently. "We can't hand you over to the resistance. Even aside from what they'd do to you - and Jet has killed Earth Kingdom peasants just because they were in his way, what he'd do to someone he sees as a traitor would be horrible - if we trade you for Tom-Tom, we'd destroy all hope of peacefully bringing your people into the Fire Nation. Everyone would say that we valued you less than Tom-Tom. It's very brave of you, but it's not an option."

Toph lowered her face slightly, looking for a moment as if she was going to stomp one foot against the floor. "Do you have any better ideas?"

Zuko frowned. "Well... no. Too dangerous."

"What?" Lady Seung asked hopefully. "Please, Prince Zuko. Please save my little boy!"

"Well... we could pretend to give in and then snatch him back during the exchange," Zuko said reluctantly. "The thing is, we'd have to at least make it look as if we're serious, which means they'd have to see either King Bumi or Toph in the group or they'll smell a rat." He looked at the ransom note again. "He's proposing the exchange be carried out in the mountains outside Omashu. His earth benders will have an advantage there. He might say that he'd have only one companion when he brings Tom-Tom but he could have an entire platoon hiding under the surface."

Mai frowned. "They would need some time to get into position though. If you agreed to meet outside the city but only told him exactly where a short while before, then he'd have to rush to meet you and wouldn't have time to move in earth benders."

"That would work," Zuko agreed thoughtfully. "It's a shame I don't have one of War Minister Qin's war balloons - that would be perfect for this."

"War balloons?" the governor asked.

"Just an idea he had. I guess he was sick of looking at Ba Sing Se's wall and wanted to just go over it instead of attacking it directly. Doesn't matter anyway, he's yet to make one that hasn't crashed horribly." Zuko shrugged. "Still, no use wishing for wings. Do you have anything in your stables faster than my komodo rhinos?"

"Well, there are the mongoose dragons that our scouts use..." the Governor suggested hesitantly.

"I don't think they could carry the casket that King Bumi is imprisoned in," objected Mai warily.

"You're right," Zuko agreed. "And I don't think we can count on him co-operating when we're basically double-crossing his own people." He and Mai started to glare at each other, daring each other to voice the obvious conclusion.

Seung burst into tears again.

.oOo.

Toph had never ridden on any kind of animal before, so she rode behind Mai as they left Omashu late that afternoon. At first it had been suggested that she ride with Zuko, but he had pointed out that he would most likely be fighting Jet and his accomplice, leaving Mai responsible for retrieving Tom-Tom and getting he and Toph clear. Above their heads, a messenger hawk flapped his way back towards wherever it was that the rebels had their base, carrying a description of where Zuko had decided to carry out the exchange.

"Are you scared?" Mai asked as she felt Toph's arms tighten around her waist.

"Not a bit," Toph mumbled into her back. "Feels funny being this far off the ground."

"How did you manage getting to Omashu then?" Mai asked.

"Palanquin. I hated it."

"It is tedious being carried around," Mai admitted. "Although when I mentioned being afraid, I was meaning more about Jet."

"What's to be afraid of? You're here. Sifu is here. I'm a fire bender now. We're good."

Mai rolled her eyes. Had she ever been that naive? "I admire your confidence."

The meeting place was an open plateau no more than a mile from the end of the bridge. Zuko had selected it as being hard to sneak upon, and hopefully the tough rock would be slow down any earth benders trying to sneak up on them. Despite the short warning, it was only a few minutes before two ostrich horses padded up the ridge towards them. Mai eyed them warily.

The handsome boy in the lead was chewing on a straw and his back up wore red war paint on his - no, Mai noticed, seeing the lack of an Adam's apple - on her face. Both wore shabby armour, the leader carrying hook swords. From the descriptions that Zuko had provided of the more prominent members of Jet's Freedom Fighters, that would make him the man himself.

"You have my brother," Mai called.

"Right down to business, eh?" Jet asked sardonically. "Alright, that works for me. Smellerbee, show her the brat." His compatriot moved forward, close enough to reveal the kicking and irritable shape of the toddler. "Cute kid. Reminds me a little of all the ones your Fire Nation barbecued over the years. So, you have our merchandise?"

"I'm right here," Toph grumbled, sticking her head out from behind Mai.

"Oh right." He shrugged. "Kind of shrimpy, but who am I to complain? Alright, here's how it goes, Smellerbee will sort of circle around to the left with our old prisoner. The fire wench over there circles other way with our new prisoner. Then you and I, Prince Zuko will move forward to collect."

"Alright. Your left or my left?" Zuko asked.

Jet sneered around the straw. "Who cares? And no tricks, your high and mightiness - I know how much your father wants to see me inside the Boiling Rock Prison and he's never caught me yet."

Zuko chuckled drily as Mai and Smellerbee both walked their respective steeds to their left. "Don't overestimate yourself. I doubt my father's even heard of you. Bands like yours are two coppers to a dozen so-called rebels at town markets from here to Ba Sing Se."

The rebel spat out his straw. "Seems like I've got you where I want you though," he said and Zuko twisted in his saddle as he heard arrows whistle... not for him, but for...

"Mai! Get down!" he shouted sharply and the girl reacted instantly, rolling out of her saddle with Toph a moment before two arrows caught her mongoose dragon in the throat. The spindly lizard slumped almost silently to the floor.

"I'm changing the deal," Jet declared, spurring his ostrich horse towards Zuko and drawing his hook swords. "If the governor is willing to give up a prize like Bei Fong for his son, then what will he surrender for the prize of his daughter and the son of the Fire Lord?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes and leapt from his own mount, kicking at the shoulder of the mongoose dragon to send it scuttling towards Mai. "You know what to do, Mai." He sent a massive, inefficient gout of flame hurtling across the plateau towards Jet, forcing the treacherous Freedom Fighter to turn away as the ostrich horse, clearly not war trained, balked.

Behind the fallen mongoose dragon, Mai pushed Toph against the ground. "Stay here, out of sight," she whispered. "I'll come back for you." Overhead she heard more arrows whistling down and flicked her wrist, bringing a throwing dagger to her hand. Now all she had to do was catch Smellerbee - difficult as the second Freedom Fighter was mounted and on the other side of the plateau. With a squall, Zuko's mount bounded over the corpse of its former stable mate and Mai jumped for the reins. That solved half of the problem, courtesy of Zuko. Now it was up to her to finish the job.

Zuko was still hurling fire, almost wildly, around the plateau, preventing Jet from closing in with his hook swords. Mai charged the mongoose dragon behind him, around the destruction and towards her brother's captor.

"Yipe!" Smellerbee reversed her attempt to keep circling and get behind Zuko as she saw Mai bearing down on her and instead tried to regroup with her leader. "Don't throw that thing," she threw back over her shoulder in warning. "I'm still holding your brother."

Mai kicked out and one leg launcher discharged two arrows, piercing the ostrich horse's thigh. "I'm a better shot than that," she retorted, closing in as the beast slowed, lamed but not felled.

"I thought you'd be better than this, Prince Zuko," taunted Jet, scrambling free of his own mount to spare himself more of its fearful attempts to avoid the fire. "Everyone talks about the strength of the fire of the royal family, but you're just throwing around a flashy light show with barely any heat at all."

"Yes. Well, there's a reason for that," Zuko advised and then jumped backwards, towards the centre of the plateau, extinguishing his own fires. "Heads up!"

Jet's eyes flickered to the sky and then widened in fire at the rain of fiery boulders descending upon them. "No!" he shouted. "How...?"

With a cataclysmic crash, the boulders smashed into the rear of the plateau, cutting off the Freedom Fighter retreat and setting fire to the sparse vegetation. "You cheated with archers," Zuko told him, burning two arrows out of the sky with a casual gesture. "I cheated with catapults. We spent all afternoon zeroing in every catapult in the city on this hill."

Jet's face twisted. "This isn't over!" he roared and broke into a sprint - not towards Zuko but towards Mai's fallen mongoose dragon. Zuko paled and gave chase, but he was further away than the fleet-footed outlaw.

"Hello, Lady Bei Fong," he heard Jet shout as he leapt over the dead beast. The freedom fighter raised both hook swords to strike down upon the tiny girl.

"Toph! No!"

"Count this as the day you almost escaped the justice of Jet the Freedom Fighter!" Jet cried out as he brought the weapons down upon the traitor. Then he yelped in surprise as the pint-sized fire bender stepped forwards into the attack and in a move that was pure earth bending swept her hands and outwards, chopping at his wrists and blocking his sword strokes before either could reach her.

Toph worked her jaw for a moment, inhaled through her nose... and exhaled a tongue of fire into Jet's face.

Two screams cut through the air as Jet recoiled from the attack. One of pain as his face was scorched, the other of warning from behind him.

"Toph, get down!" Zuko snapped in his 'sifu voice' and the instant he saw her obey, he thrust out with two fingers towards the bandit - not with anger, not with fury at the cowardly attempt to strike down his student... just a calm determination that Jet was never going to threaten any one he cared about... ever... again...

Lightning slashed across the plateau from his fingers. An instant later, it was followed by thunder as more fiery rocks pummelled the earth.

In the aftermath the silence was shocking.

Then a child's wail cut through it.

"Mai? Toph?" Zuko called, questioningly.

"Here." Mai emerged from the evening shadows, red blood and black soot almost invisible on her robes. In her arms was her brother. Judging by the noise the toddler was making, he seemed to be intact.

"I'm okay," Toph reported. She paused. "I don't think you got him though."

There was a bitter laugh from behind her. "You've got sharp ears, traitor." Jet staggered to his feet. His face wasn't as handsome as it had once been - Toph's fire had seared the flesh around his left eye and back into the hair line. While it looked superficial to Zuko - clearly Toph still hadn't managed to bend significant heat into her flames - he had no doubt that it must be painful. "You shouldn't have warned her, Prince Zuko. You gave me time to dodge as well. That's why I'm going to win: because I'll make any sacrifice to destroy the Fire Nation."

"I've seen your 'sacrifices'," Zuko said softly. "My soldiers call them atrocities, and they're committed against your own people. I think this is the first time you've ever paid the price personally, instead of leaving innocents to suffer for your 'victories'."

Jet shook his head. "This isn't over, your highness. Because we both might have cheated, but I cheated _twice_." He stamped his feet and the ground began to rumble menacingly.

"Earth benders!" Zuko shouted as the ground shook, and then split beneath them.

"Meet my good friend, the Boulder," Jet called as the stone between them rose up to protect him from the fireball Zuko hurled at him. "What kept you?" he added in a low voice.

Mai jumped from boulder to boulder as the plateau crumbled, ignoring the two rebels as she carried her brother towards where she'd last seen Toph.

"Sorry," she heard a new voice report from somewhere near Jet. "It's mostly sandstone near Gaoling. The Boulder finds granite harder to work with."

Zeroing on a disgusted - and very unladylike - snort from behind what was left of her mongoose dragon, Mai found Toph taking cover. "You stayed where I left you? Are you feeling alright?"

"It's the last place anyone would expect to find me," Toph said reasonably.

"The earth bender said he was from Gaoling, like you - I don't suppose you know of him?"

Toph shrugged, apparently not concerned. Then again, Mai realised, she probably couldn't see the way that the stones around them were breaking up. "The only earth bender I know in Gaoling is Master Yu. And the badger moles. This one sounds like what my mother would call a 'lowlife gladiator'." She paused. "That was a no."

"Did you have to teach her sarcasm as well?" Zuko asked, leaping off a pillar of rock that was trying to hurl him into the sky.

"She learned it all by herself," Mai said defensively. "I'm so proud," she deadpanned. Tom-Tom squealed and waved his hands excitedly at the moving rocks.

Zuko nodded. "Okay. I think everyone we care about is here, so let's leave. I don't know about you, but I don't really care about what they do to the hill. Any objections?"

"I've got one," said a voice from behind him.

Zuko reached back and fired a long stream at Jet, forcing him back behind cover. "Any important objections? No? Great. Let's go."

He whirled his arms and hurled a mass of fire up and over the barrier shielding Jet and the Boulder. Mai grabbed hold of Toph with her free hand and sprinted down the hill towards the end of the bridge.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Jet called after them. "Boulder, slow them down!"

"That's 'the' Boulder," the muscle-bound Earth bender declared and grunted dramatically as he pushed forward with one foot, a fissure of stone chasing after the fleeing group, snaking left and right as it pursued them. Missing Mai's foot by inches, it instead connected with Zuko before he could react to her warning cry, pushing his foot awkwardly to one side. Stumbling, he caught himself on a boulder.

"Are you hurt?"

"I just sprained my ankle, I can keep going," Zuko told her as he resumed running, slower and clearly with some pain.

Mai masked her relief he could keep moving. "I didn't ask for a diagnosis," she retorted. They were nearing the bottom of the plateau and even slowed by Toph's short legs they were keeping ahead of their pursuers. She felt Toph's hand slip away and heard a startled cry from behind her. Turning her head she saw the younger girl sprawled on the ground, clutching at the side of a pitfall that had opened behind them. "Zuko!"

The prince turned and saw the same thing. "I'll get her."

"No." Mai handed over her brother. "Your ankle will slow you down. Just get Tom-Tom home for me. I'll take care of Toph." Turning, she ran back up the hill, seeing Toph slip out of sight into the widening chasm. Without hesitating, Mai dropped over the edge herself clutching at the stone surface to control her descent.

As he reached the road, Zuko was staggering, teeth gritted against the pain from his ankle. Ahead of him, he could see a troop of komodo dragon riders charging along the bridge to the rescue. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Jet and the Boulder finally slow and stop chasing. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he looked for Mai and Toph.

Nothing.

They'll be okay; they must just be in a fold in the ground. They'll come into view any moment now, he concluded, picking out the chasm where Toph had fallen. Maybe they're using it to cover their escape.

The blood ran from his face as he watched the Boulder extend his arms and then draw both back both hands, knuckles out. In obedience to the large man's earth bending, the chasm slowly closed up, the two rebels diving into its last vestige.

"No!" he shouted, scanning the hill again for any sign of his student and his... Mai. "Noooo!"

.oOo.

"See if you can find the girls down here," Jet ordered. "I didn't see them come out."

The Boulder grunted. "No chance. All the stones jumbling around down here - must be a thousand caves and fissures. I closed it all up - no one but an Earth bender could get out of here, not even the greatest Earth bender alive would be able to track someone else down here. Even if they did survive the fall, they'll just die down here."

Jet frowned. "I suppose you're right," he conceded. "Just lead me out of here then. I can't see a thing."

"Oh no," said a small, sarcastic voice from below him. "What a nightmare."


	3. Chapter Two

Mai woke up in darkness that for a moment she wondered if she had actually opened her eyes. It took a moment for her to realise that she must be underground and a moment longer to realise that her head was cushioned on a heap of sand.

"Welcome back from the spirit world," Toph said from the darkness. There was a slight swish, as if sand was being brushed away from something. "For a while there I was afraid you'd be taking up permanent residence there."

"What happened?" asked Mai and then winced as she felt pain from her head. Touching her face she found a trail of blood leading up to - "Ouch." - a swollen bruise the size of a goose-egg just above her hair line.

There was another swish of sand. "A rock hit you on the head when you were coming down after me." She paused. "Thank you for that, by the way."

"I promised I'd look after you," Mai waved off the gratitude.

"No, really. I had a perfect getaway, and you messed it up. Thanks for caring, but you have lousy timing in deciding to come out of your shell."

Mai blinked. "What - you were in on it? You were one of the kidnappers?" She reached for her favourite throwing dagger and found it absent.

She could hear Toph's bangs whip back and forth as she shook her head. "No. That messed me up as much as it did anyone. It's not Tom-Tom's fault he was born in the Fire Nation and I don't really give a damn about the war. I came here to hide, nothing more. If I hadn't turned out to be a fire bender I'd have been safe for months. Instead..." she sighed. "My parents will probably find out I came here any day now. Saving Tom-Tom was my excuse to get out of the city before they find me. Thanks for playing hero, Spiky," she added, her voice dropping into uncertainty.

"Well, clearly, I shouldn't have bothered."

Toph hesitated. "I deserve that." The swishing sound stopped. "I'm sorry Mai. I meant what I said about you being the best friend I ever had. I didn't plan on that either. I'm going to get you out of this."

Mai rolled to her feet, then paused before straightening and waved her hands cautiously above her head to check she wasn't about to butt her already bloody head against the ceiling. I wonder if this is how Toph feels all the time. "How are you going to do that? You're a fire bender, not an earth bender. Speaking of which, if you're feeling guilty, a little light here wouldn't hurt."

There was a long pause. "Uh. Well, you're wrong about pretty much all of that."

"Is this really the time for riddles?"

"You're right. I guess I must sound like that old man, Bumi," Toph admitted. "Okay, first thing is, we're buried pretty solidly. I haven't found any air holes so far, so we've only got so much air. Talking is using a bit, but fire would use it a lot faster. And I don't know how long it will take to get out of here. I broke through into this gallery only a few minutes after we fell, or we'd probably have suffocated by now. So I don't really want to use more fire unless I really have to."

Mai grimaced, but nodded. "I understand. Who are you really?"

"I really am Toph Bei Fong. But... my parents don't know I'm here. I ran away from them about a month back. They... found out I was a bender. They've always thought I was delicate because I can't see - but my bending terrified them. They... I don't want to talk about this, okay? They tried to take it away from me. At first I thought I was just ill. I thought it would come back. Then I overheard the real reason. They'd found, somehow, a chi specialist who did something to my chakras. They tried to seal my bending away forever."

"Agni..." Mai murmured. She remembered what Zuko had been like the one time Azula had managed to convince Ty Lee to block his bending. He'd not noticed the gentle nudges that the young girl had used... and the betrayal on his face when fire failed to respond to him had been fearful. Of course, that had worn off after an hour or so.

"Anyway, I figured the safest place to hide would be somewhere that the Fire Nation had occupied: it would be really difficult for my parents to send anyone after me here. And if anyone went looking for a blind girl, I didn't think that they would suspect a fire maiden of being a missing Earth Kingdom heiress."

Mai nodded. "And then your bending came back and you were a seven day wonder, your name on everyone's lips." She rubbed at her head again. "I suppose the block must be why you couldn't bend any great amount of fire. That's really been puzzling Zuko."

Toph chuckled. "So I heard." There was a rustle of cloth. "I'm blind, not deaf." The swishing sound resumed. "Do you want your knife back? I had to borrow it."

"No, if you're using it to dig, then you're probably making good use of it," Mai offered, walking hesitantly across the - what had Toph said? - gallery. She pulled out a larger blade from inside her robe. "I'll help."

She could almost feel Toph looking at her, which was ridiculous, since Toph really couldn't be. "Okay, paranoid now. I tell you that I lied a lot to you and now you're walking towards me with a big knife. Not helping."

"You're the one who's been living a lie," Mai pointed out. "Wouldn't that make you the untrustworthy one?"

"I am disarmed by your logic," Toph said and Mai heard something metal clatter onto the rocky surface that served as the floor of the gallery. "Have your knife back." The sound of the sand continued, apparently disproving Mai's assumption that it was the sound of Toph digging.

"I'd rather you didn't stick me with it accidentally," Mai told her, kneeling to recover the weapon. "Throwing it around like that is a little careless."

"I know exactly where you are," Toph told her. "And I don't need it to dig." There was a scrambling sound and when she next spoke, her voice echoed, as though she was speaking through a tube. "I'm through the wall; I think there's a vertical fissure here that we can use to get closer to the surface."

Mai reached forwards and found a circular hole in the stone wall. Perfectly circular and even smooth except where sand had accumulated in the bottom. "This isn't fire bending. The only way you could be doing this was if..." No, that was impossible. There was no possible way that she could have been sharing her bedroom with the greatest imaginable threat to the Fire Nation. And Toph was too young... or so she claimed. "How old are you, really?"

"I was born just after the winter solstice. Twelve years ago..."

Twelve years ago. Mai had only been four years old when the Three Dragons faced the Avatar, barely old enough to understand the reports being sent back from the colonies. Three great armies, commanded by the Fire Lord Azulon and his two sons had hounded the Avatar Kanna across the southern half of the Earth Kingdom, never allowing her to find refuge. At last, exhausted, the Avatar had tried to break through Azulon's army to reach the Serpent's Pass and flee into Ba Sing Se.

Accounts of the battle were as much legend as history, but all accounts agreed that Kanna had killed many of Azulon's soldiers and perhaps mortally wounded him before his sons could reach him. When she fled onto the narrow spine of land that was the only connection between the two halves of the continent, the indomitable Azulon insisted on continuing the chase and Prince Iroh, the Dragon of the West, had counselled that the three royal Fire benders should follow alone so that that they could move swiftly after their prey on the confined path.

Of the three, only Prince Ozai, the younger of the Fire Lord's sons, returned. The Serpent's Pass had been shattered into a thousand pieces and both Azulon and Iroh's bodies were lost beneath the waves. Ozai had brought back Kanna's body as a trophy however, proving the great victory, henceforth the Victory of the Three Dragons, over the Avatar. Mai could just barely remember the day of Ozai's return and certainly none of his famous speech that day.

Of course, she had been required to study it later on, by teachers who claimed disappointment that a small girl had not remembered a long speech she had heard only in part. These days, every educated citizen could quote the speech almost letter perfect. Ozai had declared that as his brother Iroh had been the chosen heir, all histories were to record Iroh as the Fire Lord succeeding their father Azulon, his reign covering the days between Azulon's death and Ozai's own investiture as Fire Lord. A reign that had therefore begun on the day of the winter solstice.

"You were born within days of the Victory of the Three Dragons," she said slowly. "You are an earth bender, _and_ a fire bender." She looked irritably off into the darkness. "Would you like to confess now, before I reach the mindboggling obvious conclusion?"

Toph muttered something that sounded obscene. Her little sister had all sorts of entertaining bad habits that she'd apparently been hiding. For a moment she idly considered what Azula or Ty Lee would make of her and then reality set in.

"What if I said it was none of your business, Spiky?" the younger girl asked.

Mai's lips curved. Revenge was sweet. "I think I'd remember what you said to me when I said my relationship with Prince Zuko was none of yours, little sister."

"'Little sister'?" Toph responded, suddenly much closer. "Are you going soft on me, Spiky?"

"I wouldn't dream of it. Would you prefer I refer to you by your other name, Avat-"

Toph growled deep in her throat. "No, I'm good," she assured Mai hastily. "I'm... just going to dig for a while, let's be quiet and conserve the air."

.oOo.

The sun was just beginning to creep up over the horizon when Toph finally managed to break a hole through to the surface. Admittedly this little victory was still over a hundred yards below the top of the canyon surrounding Omashu, but at least it guaranteed a light and air, both of which Mai had been growing somewhat concerned about for the last hour or so. If she wasn't so rational she might have been claustrophobic, but clearly that was impossible. There was no doubt that the air in the caves had been running out, even if Toph had laughed at the notion. Unfortunately, Toph's crippled chi made it impossible for her to tunnel quickly; she had to effectively brush aside the stone, one thin layer at a time, dissolving it into sand.

"Okay, you're clear." Toph said, pulling back to let Mai past. "I guess I'll see you some time."

Mai blinked as the sudden light irritated her eyes. "And what makes you think I'm letting you out of my sight?"

"Um, Mai. I already told you, I'm leaving Omashu. Even if you hadn't figured out I... about my bending, I wasn't going to stay. I'll just go burrow through the other side of the mountain and you can go home."

"And I already told you, you're my little sister. And you need a bath, the nearest of which is in Omashu." Mai felt a smile crawling across her face and was glad Toph couldn't see her. What would it do to her reputation? "And as for the other stuff... well, technically it's my patriotic duty to report the Avatar's identity to my father. But there's something about being a Fire Maiden that I think you've forgotten."

Toph frowned in thought. "One of those boring lessons?"

"The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is always to her family," Mai reminded her. "_Always_. It doesn't matter what politics the men play around with. Our job is to make sure our families survive. And I don't think letting the Fire Lord Ozai that the Avatar he's so worried about is -" blind, chi-crippled, effectively orphaned "- learning fire bending from his own son, would be in my family's best interests."

"Oh." Toph thought about that and then shrugged. "Sorry. Still not staying. Not going to be here when my parents turn up. If you want to do me a favour, tell everyone that Toph Bei Fong died last night."

"Not letting you out of my sight. Is your memory failing you, little sister?"

"Not staying in Omashu! Are you going senile already?" Toph half-shouted and stamped one foot, creating a small crater under it.

Mai nodded. "Then I will go with you." Uh, wait, what?

"I can look after myself," Toph said, huffing in frustration. "I'm... I _was_ the greatest earth bender in the world. The undefeated champion of the Earth Rumble. I made it here without any help at all and I don't need help now."

"Who said I thought you needed help?" Mai asked innocently. "Omashu is unbelievably tedious. You were the only person who made it evenly remotely bearable. The way I see it, following you around should be far more exciting." She smiled faintly. "You aren't the only person whose parents don't let her get out much."

Toph looked at her and then shook her head. "You're crazy. I'm glad you're my sister; no one else would be able to cope. Keeping you away from Tom-Tom is practically a public service." She threw up her hands in defeat. "Okay, you can come with me. But first there's something I need to do in Omashu."

.oOo.

"You know, when you said you wanted to do one last thing in Omashu, I thought you had something discreet in mind, not releasing King Bumi," Mai hissed as the two girls crept up the palace tower. The palace was very quiet today, with only a minimum of guards. She had the uneasy suspicion that every able bodied man was busy excavating a certain hill.

"Nah, no one will ever know we were here," Toph assured her. "Can't release a man who doesn't want to be liberated."

Mai frowned. "He's a prisoner, Toph."

"Sure he is, Spiky. You just keep telling yourself that. Most powerful Earth bender you've ever seen - except for me of course - and you think a couple of layers of metal has him confined?" Toph shook her head. "He's in there because he chooses to be."

"Why would he choose to be locked away while we take over his kingdom?" Mai asked curiously.

Toph shrugged. "You've got me there. No idea. I didn't say he wasn't crazy." She pulled a stone out of a pocket and it started shifting in her hand into a facsimile of a key. "Presumably it makes sense to him."

"That doesn't look very much like the key," Mai advised.

Toph grinned cockily and slid it any way, wiggling it back and forth for a moment. Mai had the feeling that if Toph could see she would have closed her eyes to concentrate. After a moment Mai's little sister turned the key fully and the lock snapped open. "Easy as an easy thing," she bragged and pushed the door open.

"Ooh, pretty girls here again," Bumi chuckled from his casket. "Can't stay away from my manly charms, can you?"

"Oh please," Mai sighed, leaning against the door frame. "Yes, congratulations, you have a twelve year old admirer."

"Twelve years old?" Bumi asked. "Funny, it seems more like four days than two years since you last come to visit me."

Toph advanced closer towards him. "Yeah, I lied. I'm a bad person, I know."

"No," Bumi shook his head. "I think you are wise beyond your years. I take it from your method of entrance that you're not just a fire bender, young Toph."

"I'm an Earth bender," Toph told him flatly. "I am - I was - the best Earth bender I've ever heard of. Better than you. And yes, you saw yourself. I can bend fire too. Not well, but a bit. That doesn't have to mean... what you're thinking."

"Only the Avatar can bend the four elements," Bumi said patiently. "It is not fair, I know. You're too young to have to deal with that burden but there is no other explanation. Everyone in the Earth Kingdom has been waiting for you. And," he smiled at Mai, "At least you do not need to bear the burden alone."

"Me?" she said, pointing a finger at her face. "I'm not a bender."

"No, but you love Toph and will protect her," Bumi told her. "When the Avatar's heart is sure then there is nothing that can stand against her... but when they are in doubt..." He shook his head. "Love has always been mankind's greatest strength and weakness. It is no different for the Avatar."

Toph made a disgusted noise. "Whatever. Not what I'm here for. On top of this, I have another problem."

Bumi frowned. "You're having to beat the boys off with a stick?"

"What? No," Toph said irritably.

"Oh, they won't look at you? That's strange."

"Who cares about boys?" snapped Toph. "Get with it, grandpa, someone's messed with my chi. I can't bend worth a damn any more. I figure being messed up like that is a lot more likely to be causing my sudden fire bending than being some reborn hero that everyone expects to save their butts."

Bumi frowned. "I've heard of some techniques to block chi, but those are only temporary," he admitted. "Typically, one's chakras will quickly return the flows to normal. The only exceptions I have heard of that have permanent effects are those so disruptive that they kill the target."

"That's my experience as well," Mai confirmed. "I have a... friend who knows some of those techniques," she added when Bumi looked at her enquiringly.

"Hmm. And if someone could learn other forms of bending though a little chi manipulation," Bumi added. "Then everyone would be doing it."

"There's always a first time," Toph protested. "Anyway. Fine, you don't know anything useful, so I'm done here. Enjoy your vacation up here," she threw back over her shoulder as she headed back out the door.

"I will," Bumi promised cheerily. "But would you mind doing an old man a favour?"

"Well that depends," Toph told him. "What's in it for me?"

He cackled in amusement. "I know the fastest way out of the city. Interested?"

"Alright, I'm listening."

"Tell Aang that I miss all the fun we had," Bumi asked.

"Aang?" Toph looked at Mai in perplexion. "Look, I'm not trekking around the world looking for some old codger."

Bumi laughed. "Old codger? Don't you worry your head about that, Lady Toph. Aang will find you."

"Well. Alright. If you say so," she agreed. "So, what's this secret way out of the city?"

There was a sparkle in Bumi's eye. "You've seen Omashu's mail system?"

"I'm blind," Toph deadpanned.

"Oh. Right. But you know how it works, right?"

Toph frowned. "Well... yeah. I..." A grin spread across her face. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

Mai's eyes narrowed. "What is he suggesting?"

"Trust me, it's very interesting," Toph promised a little smugly. "Well, thanks for that King Bumi. I'd tell you to write and let me know how you're getting on, but I get the feeling that I'm going to be moving around a bit and..."

"Yes, yes, you can't read," Mai said. "You've done that to death already."

.oOo.

"No."

Toph pouted. "It's perfectly safe. I had someone read me a scroll about Omashu once and they used to use them for hundreds of packages a day."

"That was when there were earth benders all over the place to keep it working," Mai said, eyeing the slide warily.

"You'll have an earth bender right in the car with you, couldn't be safer," Toph pointed out. She hopped into the sled and ran her hands over it. "No problem."

Mai shook her head. "No problem now or no problem before your chi was shut down?"

Toph stabbed one finger towards the older girl. "Listen, I know exactly what my limits are, Spiky. I may not _like_ them, but I know them. This, I can do."

"And walking out of Omashu quietly is so hard?" Mai asked somewhat plaintively.

"There's too much chance of someone spotting us. If we huddle down inside this, then no one will be able to see us. They'll just assume that one of the builders knocked it onto the slide and ignore it. I can get us right the way to the outer wall in less time than it takes for us to argue about it."

Mai sighed and jumped into the back of the sled, slouching down against the stone until she was entirely below the lip. "I'm going to regret this," she predicted gloomily as Toph tipped the sled onto the ramp.

.oOo.

Locks of hair fell away from Zuko's scalp as he ran the razor across his scalp. The garrison had worked through the night and then the following day to dig out the hill, but all they had found was the broken body of Jet's accomplice, Smellerbee, crushed almost beyond recognition by the rocks.

The candles that lit Zuko's quarters flared in time with his breathing. Normally his control was better than that but he couldn't bring himself to care. His eyes watered for a moment and his face blurred in the metal mirror to impassive golden eyes and long, raven black bangs framing a pale face. "I failed you," he apologised, but when he wiped his eyes the only face present was that his own, his topknot pulled into an old fashioned high ponytail. Turning his head, he began to cut away the hair at the back of his head.

And Toph... he'd led his student to her death. He'd let her courage and his pride in her blind him to the fact that she was only ten years old. Not even old enough for military service and she'd ridden into the ambush with him as faithfully as any soldier, faced down Jet himself fearlessly... none of which he should have allowed. Zuko's jaw clenched. "Agni, let her have died cleanly," he prayed, loathing himself for the words. "Let her not have fallen into Jet's hands."

His shaving done, Zuko folded away the kit and began to don his armour. Normally his aide would have helped him but he had sent the man away. He felt the need to do this himself. Slowly, deliberately, he buckled on his greaves and breastplate, then lifted the heavy yoke over his shoulders, lacing it into place. He didn't bother with the helmet - he wanted the widest possible field of vision.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Zuko called. He didn't turn around when the door opened. but a glance at the mirror showed him the governor entering.

"Prince Zuko?" the man asked and then gasped as he saw Zuko. "Your highness?"

"Yes governor. What can I do for you?" he asked bluntly and saw an angry retort die on the father's face as a politician's instincts restrained him. "I should never have let Mai and Toph come with me," Zuko admitted, before the older man could say anything.

Mai's father sighed wearily. "I doubt you could have stopped them, your highness. The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is always to her family. Mai would never have agreed to simply wait while someone else rescued Tom-Tom. And little Toph..." he sighed heavily. "She was a natural fire maiden. Why would that not come as instinctively to her as all else?"

"We were so close. So damn close to all being safe," Zuko growled, feeling candles around the room blaze, melting prodigiously through the wax.

"So I saw," the governor agreed. "I should not blame you for my daughters' deaths."

Should not. Meaning of course, that he did. "Why not? I do. I should have been the one to go back for Toph. I'm the bender. I would have stood a better chance."

"You were injured. And you had sworn to bring my son back, for which I thank you." The old man was fighting to control his breathing. And his temper. "I... am grateful for what you were able to do, Prince Zuko. I... my wife's temper is uncertain however. I would not insult a son of the Fire Lord by demanding his departure..."

"But some things are hard to unsay," Zuko agreed. "Do not concern yourself, Lord Governor. I will not hold anything your wife says against her or against you. And I will leave Omashu at dawn. The so-called Freedom Fighters cannot be camped far from here and I intend to put a stop to them once and for all. It is long since time that someone purged the bandits in this part of the world."

The old man smiled. It was not a pleasant expression. "You will bring them to justice?" He paused. "But what about the rest of your tour."

"This isn't about justice," Zuko growled. "It's vengeance. And to hell with the tour."


	4. Chapter Three

"Why did I ever say I wanted to travel with you?" Mai asked, emptying her boot of swamp water for the seventh time that morning.

"I think it was something about wanting to have an adventure," Toph replied with a grin. She was a lot more expressive without adult supervision, Mai had noticed. Of course, she was mostly indulging this at Mai's expense, but who else was there? "This is just one of those bits that don't generally get a lot of attention in the ballads."

"The ballads. Right."

"I could sing one for you, if you want," the younger girl offered.

"Please don't." For someone who depended on her hearing more than sight, Toph could be astonishingly tone deaf. Her repertoire was also split more or less evenly between very traditional Earth Kingdom ballads and some very raunchy tavern songs that Mai would be fascinated to learn where the young girl had heard them. Certainly, from what Toph said about her family life, she wouldn't have heard them at her home. "Are you certain you know where we're going?"

"Well," Toph paused, turning her face back and forth and then pointed a few degrees off what Mai judged to be their direction of travel. "That's south."

"I was hoping for some landmarks."

Toph grinned. "Well, sure, I can see dozens of those. Once you've seen nothing, it's totally unmistakeable."

Mai counted to ten. "So we're just going to keep following your bearings until we get out the other side of the swamp?"

"Or we hit the sea," Toph conceded. "We might have to follow the coast if that happens. I'm not really sure where that is - kind of hard for me read a map." She shrugged her shoulders. "Trust me, I don't like this any more than you do. The mud here is terrible for earth bending and it's too damp for fire to be any use."

"It must have been difficult to get through the swamps last time."

"Are you nuts, Spiky? I've never been here before. When I came to Omashu I travelled through the mountains - much easier for fast movement. I wouldn't be in this mud pit at all if I could think of anywhere that it would be harder for someone to track us through."

Mai groaned. "You don't know the swamps at all?"

Toph splashed her way down off the hillock that they'd been resting on. "I know that we're going south. More or less. Sooner or later, we'll reach dry land."

Her companion sighed morosely and waded into the muck. Almost immediately, some of it ran into her boots.

.oOo.

Mai had brought down a small animal with one of her throwing knives and took charge of cooking it that evening after Toph broke up some of the tree roots and managed to start a rather smoky fire.

"This isn't bad," Toph admitted, chewing on the rather gamey meat.

"Don't overwhelm me with your praise," Mai mumbled around her own mouthful.

Toph leant back, propping her feet up on a root. "Okay, done embarrassing you for the moment. She gnawed on a bone. "Seriously I probably ought to learn how to cook now that I'm a fire bender. It was a bit dangerous before."

"I can imagine," Mai said drily. "How did you manage to forage for food when you were on your own?"

"Mostly I just didn't bother cooking."

Mai groaned. "So this is an adventure. Just great."

"Hey, you could have stayed in Omashu," Toph said and shrugged. "I didn't drag you here. You could probably go back, even now. Feel tempted?"

"Hmm. Wading through this swamp or dying of boredom in Omashu... not really a difficult decision, little sister." Mai threw one of the bones away. "Just promise me that you're not planning to stay in this swamp and learn water bending now that you know you're the Avatar."

"I'm still not convinced of that."

"You said yourself, you were a powerful earth bender before your pa-" Mai reconsidered her words as she saw Toph's face twist. "Before your chi was injured. Zuko said you were still one of the most talented benders he'd ever met. He couldn't believe how quickly you picked it up. And believe me, he knows what he's talking about."

The blind girl spat into the water. "If I was the reincarnation of some sort of mythical hero, don't you think I'd know about it?"

"Possibly not." Mai shrugged. "After the Avatar Kanna was killed, everyone started searching for her successor. I was just a child at the time, but I had to do a report about the last Fire Nation Avatar: Roku. The histories say that the Fire Lord was heartbroken when he learned that his closest friend was the Avatar. They were supposed to have been like brothers before Roku betrayed him. If Roku had known when he was a child, wouldn't Sozin have known as well?"

"I don't know. Do children talk about that sort of thing?"

"I think so," said Mai uncertainly. "My parents always told me to be quiet so I suppose children are normally talkative."

"Great. We both had weird childhoods. Maybe you're the Avatar."

"Hmm. No thank you."

"Then you know how I feel," Toph told her. "I don't want to bring balance to the world. Or to destroy the Fire Nation. You said everyone was looking for the Avatar - they weren't doing it to give me tea and fire flakes. They all wanted the Avatar's power, to control. I guess it doesn't matter if I'm the Avatar or not. If anyone finds out I can bend more than one element, they'll try to control me. Just like my parents. Just like your parents. That isn't exactly what I had in mind for my life."

Mai nodded. "So. What do you want?"

Toph sat up and hugged her knees. "I don't know. I don't really have a plan."

"Then maybe we need somewhere to go, somewhere we can live while you try to make a plan." Mai grimaced. "I wish I had a map."

"Sorry, I didn't see any maps when I was packing," Toph shrugged. The familiar joke seemed to steady her. "What do you want to know?"

"There's supposed to be an island where one of the Avatars lived," Mai told her. "I don't remember the name, but it's some way off the south coast. They don't play any part in the war other than some refugees making their way there. No one would look twice at a couple of young girls there - particularly since apparently they traditionally cover their faces in paint."

Toph shrugged. "One place is as good as another. But if an Avatar once lived there, wouldn't they be more likely to suspect me?"

"Not if you're discreet about bending," suggested Mai.

"But I love bending!"

Was I this annoying when I was twelve? I don't think so. I think Ty Lee was though... "Get some sleep. I want to get through the swamp as fast as possible, which means an early start."

.oOo.

This wasn't what I had in mind for an early start, Mai mused as the vines continued to drag on her ankles. It was still dark, although some moonlight was filtering through the treetops of the swamp. Of course, since she was face down and using her throwing knives to keep herself from being dragged off by suddenly hostile vegetation. Toph, not carrying any weapons - something I really need to teach her about, she decided - had already been dragged off.

Risking her grip by only holding on one-handed, Mai used her other hand to throw kunai at the vines, severing two of them and loosening the grip to the point she could break loose and run in the direction Toph had vanished.

"For the record," she advised the trees as she jumped through them, "If you hurt my little sister I'm going to go get Zuko and make him raise an army of fire benders to reduce this whole maggoty mess to ashes. So you might want to keep that in mind." The trees didn't seem very intimidated. Clearly she was losing her edge.

There was a ground mist, but she could hear splashing ahead, so probably Toph was putting up some resistance. Mai sped up her pace and started jumping from branch to branch, avoiding the water below her. The branches didn't drop her into the water, which she took to mean that her intimidation tactics had worked, which was more than they ever had on Ty Lee.

Ahead of her, a black and red shape was moving through the branches in the same direction. "Toph?" No, too large, she decided. And hopefully Toph wasn't faking her death to get away from her. They were getting along quite well, all things considered. But the clothes were certainly the right colours to be from the Fire Nation.

She pushed herself harder, trying to get closer and get a better look, but all she could make out was that whoever it was had shaved most of their head and had what was left of their hair in a high ponytail that looked like something out of a historical play. Mai hadn't seen anything that ridiculous since the last time her mother insisted she accompany her to the Ember Island Players.

Mai blinked as the shape vanished behind a tree trunk and didn't reappear. And the sound of struggling was also gone. "Toph!" she called. "Toph! Make some noise so I can find you!"

.oOo.

Is the entire universe intent on giving me baths? Toph wondered the vines dragged her into the water. Flailing around she dug one hand into the muddy bottom and bent a ridge up out of it, pushing her up above the water again. Water bending really would come in handy right now, she admitted. Of course, I don't know anything about water bending, so that's a wash.

Toph dug her heels into the muddy ridge and pushed her hands upwards, trying to lift up enough of a barricade to stop herself from being dragged any further. The mud wasn't sturdy enough to stop her progress however and she cried out in pain as she was smashed bodily through though her own wall.

Suddenly the vines released her. "Why, you're just a little girl," drawled a surprised voice.

"Who's a little girl?" Toph snapped back, scrambling to her feet, bruised but intact. She was uneasily aware that she was hip deep in the mud, which was too soft to betray where the attacker was.

He chuckled. "Easy now, I ain't gonna hurt ya."

"You've got that right!" The swamp-mud might not have the consistency to protect her, but it worked just fine as a projectile Toph discovered as she dragged a handful of it up and lobbed a high velocity mud pie towards the enemy bender.

"Now hold on there!" the voice yelped, more in surprise than pain, to Toph's regret. She felt the silt begin to harden around her feet, trying to immobilise her.

"That isn't going to work!" Toph declared, forcing the mud away. Water ran down her breeches. He isn't bending the mud; he's bending the water in it. This guy's a water bender. I thought it was just water and ice they could shape: he's good. Her determination crystallised: he may be all that and a bag of fire flakes, but there's no way he's a better bender than Toph Bei Fong! She sank into a horse stance, forcing the mud up into a wall around her, pushing the water away and forming a shield between her and the enemy.

I need to move more fluidly, Toph deduced. The water in the mud is making it difficult. I need to adjust my stances to allow for this. Vines slapped into her cover and she threw up one hand, bending the mud that clung to the plant, battling for control of the plant.

"You don't need to do this!" protested her opponent.

Toph spat into the water. "Easy for you to say. What would a guy be doing dragging a girl away into the swamp like this be up to? I can think of some pretty nasty reasons."

The vine collapsed suddenly. "I suppose I can't blame you for being frightened," the speaker said. "You're an earth bender - you'll probably be happier out of the water. I'll leave you alone until the sun's up and you calm down a bit." There was a splashing sound as the other bender backed off.

Great. So I've got until dawn, which can't be all that far off, to figure out how to mud bend better than a water bender. Toph spread out her hands, and then splayed her fingers, reaching out. Around her, the mud began to build itself into blocks, which promptly collapsed under their own weight. She grunted unhappily and moved her hands slowly around, stirring the viscous mud as if it was water. Sweat began form on her brow. "Harder to make it behave like water when I'm bending it like Earth," she noted out loud.

Slowly she softened her stance, letting the mud break into chunks as they moved. Somewhere in between then. Earth was balanced, Fire was unbalanced. Water was... what? The opposite of fire? What would that be again?

.oOo.

It was the laconic, drawling voices that caught Mai's attention. She had returned to the campsite and resorted to her limited tracking skills in order to try to follow the path by which Toph had been dragged away. That... hadn't worked. Water was not known for retaining marks of passage after all, and the vines had moved fast.

Still, there were marks. Banks where something shaped by human hands had touched. Which meant? Most probably boats. Recently enough, by her guess. People were almost always source to less reliable information than observation, but rather easier to elicit it from. Of course, part of their unreliability came from disparate motivations. Which simply meant that it was necessary to motivate them properly.

Sometimes even Azula could be a useful role model.

Mai tumbled out of the branches overhanging the landing site as the skiff touched the shore. The distraction of handling the boat in that moment was enough to give her a crucial moment in which to act. The man at the bow was a bender, and therefore the main target. One booted foot caught his bulkier partner across the jaw, disorientating him and then she was behind the water bender, one hand pinning his thin wrists and the other holding sharp steel to his throat.

"Be very, very careful about what you say next," she advised coldly. "Best of all, say nothing until I am done."

"Tho," the water bender asked nervously. "You okay?"

"Shut up, Due," the pudgy man - wearing nothing but a pair of leaves, Mai noted distastefully - ordered. "You ain't being real friendly, Missie."

Mai didn't break her attention. "I don't find this swamp very friendly," she retorted. "My little sister was stolen away from my side last night. She is twelve years old and blind. And so far as I can tell, you are the only others in the area. I'm sure that you understand my reasoning."

"Hey!" Due said indignantly - and sincerely, judging by the way his breath and heart rate were changing. Uncoincidentally, one of Mai's fingers was set precisely over one of his radial arteries to check that.

"Shut up, Due," Tho repeated, his eyes narrowing. "Anyone around here who tried what you're suggestin' would be face down in the swamp someplace even nastier than your attitude, Missie. Maybe two or three different places," he added thoughtfully. "Which doesn't mean that there aren't those who wouldn't want to put a scare in folks who don't have any proper business being here and might - might, I say - make a mistake."

"That is a mistake that they will regret," Mai observed, calculating her options. Due might be the bender of the pair, but he wasn't the brains between these two... and then she pushed him forwards on top of Tho, withdrawing her blade and twisting herself between two whips of muddy water that were reaching to constrain him. Alright, he wasn't even the only bender. Unfortunate, although Tho seemed more level-headed.

Due rolled out of the boat entirely to clear the way for Tho and water began to rise behind him. "Don't you threaten us, girlie!"

His partner shook his head sharply. "Leave it," he said, eyeing Mai carefully. "If Desai Lai was missin' you'd be 'bout as worried." He shuffled back a bit in the boat. "It you're willin' to quit making threats, missie, we'll take you to Huu. He'll find your sister for you, sure as sure."

"Who?"

"No, Huu... aw, I'm not getting into this. It's his name!" The water bender smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "Don't you worry your head; I'm sure we'll find her safe and sound."

"You mistake my meaning," Mai warned, putting her knife ostensibly away inside her sleeve and sitting down in the boat. "My sister is unlikely to respond passively to fear. Whoever has her may be the one who needs to be rescued."

.oOo.

"You know, I was sort of expecting you to get out of the water," the voice observed. It didn't much surprise Toph: she'd felt the first bits of sunlight on her face a few moments before. "Aren't you cold?"

"I am warmed by the fires of righteous fury," Toph deadpanned. Wow, Fire Nation Man's nonsense sounds _even stupider_ when I'm saying it. Actually, she's been fire bending the water around her to warm her up, but she didn't feel like letting this guy know that. She sank into horse stance, building up a mound of mud under her feet, lifting herself out of the water.

The voice sounded exasperated. It was annoying not being able to tell whether he was truthful or not. "I'm not going to fight you. I just wanted to scare you and your companion away. This swamp is a sacred place and you were disturbing it with your fire."

Toph spat into the water. "And us throwing down here hasn't caused about a hundred times as much of a disturbance? Oh yeah, that makes sense." The blind girl gestured and a fist-sized gob of mud rose up in front of her face. "You're going to have to do better than that."

"I'm n-" There was a crunch as the mud, and the pebble that Toph had hidden in the middle of it, struck something solid. An obstruction probably since it didn't sound like broken bone. "Now that's just dirty," the man said, sounding slightly shocked.

Mud squelched mockingly between Toph's toes as she flexed the ground beneath her. She couldn't get anything like the force she was used to, but by jumping as she did so, she could at least get some distance.

Toph was unpleasantly surprised to crash into a spongy mass of vines that absorbed her impact and began to twist around her. With a startled cry, she tucked herself into a ball, trying not to give the vines anything to hold onto and tried to reach for the mud she'd felt on them before. It wasn't there. Obviously whoever the other bender was, he'd made a point of scraping it away before confronting her.

"Stop that," the man ordered and she felt a warm, human hand on her shoulder. "Just relax and I'll take you back to your parents."

Toph screamed.

Mud exploded up from the bed of the swamp, smacking the man aside with what would have been lethal force had the water not softened the blow. The vines relaxed abruptly as he was distracted from bending them and Toph dove against the little hillock. It was formed over a mass of roots, not stone, but it was the closest thing the Earth bender had come across to solid ground in hours and she burrowed into it like a mole carving a hole into the damp soil, compressing the sides to hold them together and reduce the water seepage. Roots in the way were driven aside by the earth, groaning in protest.

"Stop!" the man's voice begged. "Please stop, you don't know what you're doing."

Toph gasped for breath, not sure she could speak. She could barely feel anything over the beating of her own heart. Despite her efforts, water was beginning to pool around her hands and feet. Shuffling around she hollowed out a burrow large enough for her to turn around in. The entrance was too small for the man to come in after her.

Huddling against one of the branches, she tried to breath the way Zuko had taught her. In through the nose, holding the air deep inside her chest, then slowly out past her lips. In... hold... out...

Slowly her heart began to beat more steadily, less like a brutal hammer in her chest. Slowly her eyes began to close.

"I'm sorry," she heard the man say, the sound carried as much by the tree roots as by the air.

"If you come down here... I'll kill you..." Toph murmured, unsure if he would hear her.

.oOo.

Mai wasn't the most experienced person in the world when it came to trees, but she was fairly sure that the massive tree trunk - almost as far around as her father's palace in Omashu - must belong to the largest tree in the world. The trunk didn't even begin until the roots were heaped at least twice as high as her head.

"Quite a sight isn't it," Tho said solemnly. "Biggest tree in the swamp. Huu's usually around here."

Duw nudged the skiff up against one of the lower roots. "He's probably napping up at the top again."

"He calls it meditatin'," Tho corrected and then shrugged. "'Course, does look like nappin' to me, come to that. Says he found enlightenment up there. Don't rightly know what's so important about that but the man surely loves to talk about it. He'll bend your ear about it all day if you let him."

"I'll be firm," Mai told him drily and hopped out of the boat and onto the root. The soggy wood was treacherous footing and she needed to use a hand on occasion to help her climb. She could feel the eyes of the two water benders still eyeing her suspiciously every now and then as the followed her and smiled privately. The further up the tree they went, the further the pair were from water that they could use to attack her, since neither appeared to be carrying any water. Her weapons, on the other hand...

"Uh, Tho, I don't like the way she's smilin'," Duw muttered, having caught Mai's face in profile as she turned around one obstacle.

Tho shrugged irritably. "She's just a skinny girl," he said dismissively, running one finger along a root, droplets of water rising from the wood and along his finger in illustration of the source of his confidence. "Let Huu deal with her temper."

"There's no one up here," Mai observed, looking around the base of the tree. Her eyes locked onto Tho and her lips tightened in accusation.

The pudgy water bender shrugged. "He'll not be far," he assured her and turned outwards, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Huu! Hey, Huu! You got visitors!" Beside him, Duw started slapping his hands against the bark of the tree, the beat echoing around them.

Mai stared at them and then shrugged. It saved her the bother of shouting, and if nothing else, Toph might hear them. She considered that, and Toph, for a moment and then discreetly moved away a few steps away from the two of them.

A moment later, Duw pulled his hands off the trunk. "Huu's round the other side," he said confidently. "I can hear him beating the tree too."

The fire maiden bit her lip lightly. There were too many possible jokes to choose from and she was not going to treat the lanky water bender like some of the less bright boys she'd met over the years, even if the man did act like them. Instead she gestured in that direction. "Lead the way."

Duw did so gladly, but Tho waited for Mai to follow, making it clear he intended to bring up the rear. Mai let him have the position. If the two of them were together then one of them might block her from bringing down the other. Separated, they would be easier to deal with if necessary.

The little group circled the tree and began to descend towards the water again. Ahead of them, Mai could see movement, which resolved into another pudgy looking man wearing the same sort of leaf loincloth as the two natives with her. Of course, since the man was on his knees, apparently grubbing around on top of a mound of earth, it wasn't covering as much as Mai would have liked. "I'm suddenly glad I skipped breakfast," she muttered under her breath.

"Hey Huu," called Tho. "Got a visitor for you."

Much to her relief, the man straightened up. "Seems to be my morning for them," he said in a resigned voice. "Hey Tho, hey Duw." His eyes set on Mai and he blinked. "Don't see many folks from the Fire Nation here. Too wet for most of them. What can I do for you?"

"My little sister was dragged off by some vines," Mai told him bluntly. "These two thought you might know something about that."

Huu frowned. "Well, I did find a little girl last night -" he said, pointing at a hole in the ground. "But she's an earth bender -"

Mai shoved Duw aside and jumped down from the root onto the hillock. "What did you do to her!?" she demanded, reaching for a throwing knife.

"Oh yeah, you're sisters alright," Huu concluded wearily. "She holed up down there. I tried to coax her out, promised to take her home... just seemed to make her mad." He spread his hands. "Can't get down that dugout of hers, bit to narrow for a fellow my size, and I'm not sure I can widen it without collapsin' it."

Duw scrambled down after Mai. "Aw, don't you worry, little lady. Ol' Duw can get in there; I ain't as full in the gut as these two. I'll get your sister out of there."

"What are the funeral rites around here?" Mai asked him mildly. "Do they take a lot of preparation?"

"Huh?"

Huu shook his head. "Duw, the girl's meaner than a cat gator with a toothache when she's riled. Stick your head in there and you're gonna get it bitten clean off. Stubborn too - she stayed plumb in the water all night rather than get up on shore like I told her too."

"Aw shoot, how bad can a little girl be?"

Mai cleared her throat.

"On second thoughts, she's your sister, you deal with her," Duw decided wisely.

.oOo.

Toph woke at the sound of someone snaking their way into her burrow. She swept her hands around, ready to close the tunnel in on whoever dared to intrude her, but there was a familiarity to the heartbeat, to the way that the person was touching the wet earth. "Mai?" she asked, hating how weak she sounded.

"Do you know anyone else crazy enough to come down here after you?" Mai asked wryly. "Did he hurt you?"

"...yeah, like some old guy could hurt me?" Toph asked and hugged Mai's shoulders before letting go and punching her on the shoulders.

Mai rubbed at the impact site. "What was that for?"

"I don't do hugs."

"Of course not. Nice place you have here," Mai said, looking around. "Very homey. Are you planning to put down roots?"

Toph shook her head, then realised that for once it was Mai who wouldn't be able to see the gesture. "When I was little, I used to hide in caves near my parents' estate. It's where I met the badger moles, where I learned to earth bend. I guess I just instinctively feel happier down here."

Mai put one hand in the water pooling on the floor and made a small noise of surprise when she found that it was warm. "I didn't know that there was a tribe of water benders in the swamp," she said. "I suppose they must hide here so that the Fire Nation doesn't find them, to wipe them out the way they did the Air Nomads. Even if the fleets do conquer the poles, water benders could survive in the depths of the swamp for a long time without anyone knowing that they existed."

"Is that what your people want?" asked Toph hesitantly. "To wipe out the water benders... and the earth benders?"

Mai closed her eyes. "'The will of the Fire Lord is the will of the Fire Nation'," she recited tonelessly. "It is the will of every Fire Lord since Sozin the Great that all the world be united under the rule of their lineage. And the benders of the other nations have always opposed that will." She opened her eyes again. "I think that this is another of those things that it would be better for the Fire Lord to never find out about."

"I think you're right," Toph agreed, her voice solemn. "But what do we do about them. The... the one who brought me here said he would take me to my parents."

Mai reached out and took Toph's shoulder, running her hand down the arm until she was sure where her little sister's hand was. "Well first we'll try to reason with them," she decided. Then she pressed the hilt of one of her smaller daggers into Toph's hand. "Remind me to teach you how to use this at the earliest opportunity," she instructed. "Bending is all very well, but no one ever died from having too many weapons to hand."

"I know how to use a knife, Mai," Toph said, tucking the weapon and the sheath away.

"You do?"

"Of course. Sharp end goes in the other person's soft bits," the earth bender said.

Mai frowned. "It's a little more complicated than that," she said. "Or would you say that earth bending was just playing with mud pies?"

"Earth bending is a thousand times more awesome that that!" Toph replied hotly and then broke off. "Oh. Sorry."

"That's alright, little sister. I'm sure that you'll understand after you've spent hours and hours learning how to use them properly," Mai said graciously.

"I get it already, Spiky."

"And I do mean hours," insisted Mai. "From now on you're going to practise every day with me. You've been letting your skills get rusty while we're travelling and that just won't do."

"Oh yeah?" Toph said, and then smiled slowly. "Okay. I'll do it. But if you're teaching me to use a knife, then I'm going to teach you earth bending." She rubbed her hands together. "Oh yes. And learning that is going to be painful... for the student."

"Are you alright down there, missie?" a voice drawled from the mouth of the den. Toph gestured sharply and a mud pie rocketed out of the tunnel towards the speaker.

"...let's give them a little longer, Tho," advised Huu.

.oOo.

"So what brings the two of you to our little corner of the world?" Huu asked some time later. The five of them had regrouped on the highest roots, well above most of the trees in the swamp. Between the efforts of the three water benders and Toph, the two girls' clothes were even reasonably dry and clean, although the warming sunlight remained welcome.

"The Fire Nation captured Omashu recently," Mai told him. True, if not the answer to the question. "It wasn't safe for us to stay in the area and we thought no one would be likely to follow us into the swamp."

Duw wrinkled his nose. "Why wouldn't it be safe for you there? I mean, you're Fire Nation? Aren't you?"

"Idiot," Tho rumbled. "Look at their eyes. You think the little one'd have eyes like that if she was pure Fire Nation. She'd have eyes like her sister." He looked over. "You two are mixed blood, ain'tcha?"

Mai lowered her face, hiding her eyes with her bangs. It wasn't until later that she realised that the gesture was one Toph might have used. "Both sides consider that to be treason."

Huu sighed and shook his head. "Just another way that the both of them are more alike than they realise."

Firmly, Mai drew Toph against her to disguise the way that the young earth bender was shaking with laughter. "There are supposed to be islands in the south that are neutral in the war. We plan to make our way there. Leave it all behind." Until Sozin's Comet returns, when no one will be safe, she thought. But there was time enough to worry about that later.

"I don't know about that," Huu said thoughtfully. "Then again, I've never left the swamp. I'd suggest you stay, but I think your little sister might be a bit on the noisy side for the tree." He glowered at Toph for a moment before letting his face relax into a smile that seemed easier for him. "No offense, young lady, but it really didn't like you twisting its roots around like that."

"That's it fault for letting you use it drag me around like that," Toph said forthrightly. "If it can't take a pounding then it shouldn't get in a fight." The tree branch that the girls were sitting on flexed menacingly and Toph stamped one foot against it firmly. "Yeah, you heard me."

"Are you sure you're going to avoid the war with your sister acting like that?" Tho asked, apparently amused that the branch stopped moving.

Mai shrugged. "I figure on an island I can set her to beating the ocean into submission," she said sardonically. "By that time, hopefully she'll have started noticing boys and channel all that energy into something constructive."

"Ick." There was a disgusted noise from Toph and rather disquieted looks from the three men. Then again, from the way Toph had been acting, they were probably concerned that Toph's idea of flirting would be rather like Azula's. The Princess' occasional romantic inclinations leant more towards conquest than ongoing relationships. And wasn't that a horrible thought. The last thing that the world needed was another Azula, much less one who could bend all four elements.

"Well, I think we can at least get you across the swamp safely," Tho offered just a little too quickly. Perhaps he had sons that he wanted to protect. Mai couldn't blame him if he did. "I can get you to the other side in a day or two if Duw doesn't mind spelling me on the skiff. There's a port there, I'm sure you can find a ship there to wherever you want."

Mai nodded to him. "That would be very kind of you," she said with a smile as if she didn't have a fair idea that he had an ulterior motive. She didn't care if his reasoning was less about altruism and more about removing Toph from their little paradise. The results were the same either way.


	5. Chapter Four

The ship to Kyoshi Island wasn't crammed with refugees, but there was a definite sense that this leg of the voyage was less about moving trade goods from the mainland than it delivering people who thought that the isolated island would be safer for them than the alternatives.

"So do the women really paint their faces?" Toph asked curiously.

"Not all of them," answered the ship's cook. Mai had kindly volunteered Toph to help with peeling the various tubers and slicing meats for the broth passengers received. It was partly because it justified putting them in the room nearest the kitchen and partly some of the promised knife training for Toph. "Just the Kyoshi Warriors. They're named for one of the Avatars, so they always paint their faces the way she did to intimidate their enemies."

Toph shrugged her shoulders and picked up another vegetable. Peeling by touch wasn't as hard as she'd expected and at least it didn't mean moving around as much. She was beginning to get a feel for the vibrations in the wood of the ship, but it being made of so many different pieces made it tricky and deceptive - all the planks were different and they didn't always fit together the same way. "Does that work?"

The man chuckled. "Oh yes. They'll scare the alcohol right out of a drunken sailor, with those scary faces. And anyone who doesn't do what they say, right sharpish, they'll clobber them. More than one damn fool thought he could ignore a girl telling him what to do and wound up wondering what hit him."

"Sounds like they're really strong," Toph said admiringly.

"Heh. There's a reason no Fire Nation ships ever harass them, like they do some other islands. Those girls would put up quite a fight," the cook promised her. "Safest place in the world, Kyoshi Island. They say Kyoshi was an Avatar. She was born there, back when it was part of the Earth Kingdom, and moved it away from the mainland when some warlord threatened it. Ever since, her Warriors have protected it." He grinned. "You thinking of joining them?"

"Good idea," Toph said brightly. "Of course, I might have trouble putting the make up on."

The cook laughed. "Oh well, perhaps your sister will want to." he picked up the pot of vegetables that Toph had been preparing. "Looks good enough," he complimented and then brushed them into the pot. "That's the food done. You can go play now. Thanks for the help."

"Play?" Toph muttered in disbelief as made her way to the doorway, probing each step to make sure she was still walking between the wooden crates and barrels that took up most of the kitchen. The glorified rabbit hutch that she and Mai were occupying was immediately to her left when she reached the gangway, a small, oddly angular compartment that Toph had had trouble reconciling with the shape of the ship until she realised that one wall was the hull and that the cabin was only barely above the waterline. Now that was a nightmarish prospect.

"Hi," she said as she pushed aside the curtain that covered the front of the cubby hole. "The food'll probably be ready in a little while."

Mai looked up from the scroll she was reading. "Let me guess. Tepid water with shredded rotten vegetables again?"

"How did you guess?"

She tapped the scroll. "I've been reading up on the Kyoshi Warriors. They seem to be the main military force on the island..."

"And the only ones who actually paint their faces," Toph finished. "I asked the cook."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Naturally. I shouldn't have wasted my money on this scroll; I should have just let you ask around."

"Naturally," Toph agreed with relative cheer. She patted the inside of the hull gently and then sat down as far from it as she could get in the small space. "I told you that the scroll about Oma and Shu would be more interesting."

"I lived in Omashu for over a month, Toph, in which time I heard that stupid story at least a thousand times. I could quote it from memory, if I wasn't sure that listening to it, even when I'm the one telling it, would cause me to gouge out my own ears. Given how central it is to Earth Kingdom mythology, I'm sure you're just as aware of it."

"I like the story," Toph admitted. "Oma beating up two villages with her earth bending is a great story. It's a shame that most of the versions have to mention Shu at all."

Well at least her hormones haven't kicked in yet. "They were both idiots. If Oma could defeat both villages singlehandedly and force peace between them, then certainly they could have done so tog..." Mai shook her head. "No. I am not getting into this. Change the subject. Now."

Toph pouted and then asked: "Are you going to try to join the Kyoshi Warriors? They're supposed to be fierce warriors, so we'd fit right in."

"It'll depend on whether or not they get paid," Mai pointed out. "We don't have all that much money - if they're a volunteer force then I'll need to find some way of earning money. We don't have all that much of it and it would look suspicious if we don't have some means of support. As far as I can tell, there aren't any large towns on the island, just a number of small villages. And in a small village, everyone knows everyone else's business, so we have to get our stories straight."

"Do we have to change our names?" asked Toph.

"No - we might forget ourselves, and it's probably not necessary since no one should be looking for us on the island. However, we need to agree on where we came from. The story we told the swamp tribe is a good start: one of our parents is from the Fire Nation and the other from the Earth Kingdom. After Omashu was captured, they were killed -"

"- by Jet," suggested Toph.

"Yes, that would work," Mai agreed. "No one will believe we were peasants, so our father was a Fire Nation soldier who retired after an injury and married the daughter of an Earth Kingdom merchant. His name was... Lee. What should our mother's name be?"

Toph shrugged. "Jin perhaps? It's a fairly common name in the Earth Kingdom. What if someone else knows Omashu though? A merchant would be fairly well known."

"That's fairly unlikely, actually. Most of the refugees here are from coastal towns. Those from places inland and further north are more likely to retreat east and north towards Ba Sing Se." Mai smiled slightly. "I asked around. However, even unlikely things happen, so if we're challenged, we shall admit that our father was actually Zeng the Smuggler. He was in Omashu's cells when the city fell and my father had him executed. No one would be surprised that he had a secret marriage or that we didn't want to admit to being his daughters."

"I guess that makes sense." Toph stretched out her legs. "Well, since we've settled that, and I've had my knife practise today, it's your turn."

"My turn?" Mai asked. "What... you mean teaching me the earth bending forms?"

"Of course. No time like the present. If we work hard, then your stances should be ready for some beginning kata once we reach Kyoshi Island," Toph confirmed. "Now, take a horse stance."

The older girl stared at her. "In here? I can't even stand upright!"

Toph smirked. "The stances I'll be teaching you are from earth bending. If you do them right, your head won't ever be high enough to be at risk. If - sorry, _when_ - you make a mistake, you'll bash yourself on the deck. Consider it an incentive."

"So you want me to stand in the cabin and adopt various earth bending stances on your command?"

"I _want_ you to bash your head repeatedly against the deck while trying to adopt earth bending stances," Toph admitted unashamedly. "But you're annoyingly competent at everything I've ever seen you try so I'll settle for you learning the stances."

.oOo.

Kyoshi Island was very picturesque. Mai hated it instantly. Toph started kissing the ground the moment she was off the jetty, which was fairly predictable since she'd done exactly the same thing when she got off Tho's skiff at the edge of the swamp.

Mai stopped Toph's enthusiastic make-out session with the island by picking her up by the belt and carrying her clear off the jetty. Then she set her down and let the earth bender get on with it. Benders were freaks about that sort of thing in her experience, (She was continually surprised that Azula didn't try to bathe in molten lava and had the idea in reserve should she ever encounter the Princess and a volcano simultaneously at any point.) but the fire maiden didn't want to deal with the complaints from everyone else getting off the boat.

"She's an earth bender?" asked someone and Mai turned to a young woman wearing long, concealing green dress and black armour. Given that the girl's face was covered in white make up (except for the bits that were black or crimson) this was clearly one of the famous Kyoshi Warriors.

"What gave you that idea?"

The Kyoshi Warrior chuckled. Amazing, even a smile looked horrifying in that face paint. "It's not an uncommon reaction. Where are you from?"

"Oma's Hearth." Which was a tiny hamlet near Omashu, which was allegedly Oma's birthplace. Or possibly where she sulked off to die after her boyfriend died. It depended who you talked to. "It's near Omashu," Mai added when it was clear the name didn't mean anything to the other girl. She resisted them temptation to reel off the whole sob story she and Toph had rehearsed. Nothing could possibly be more suspicious than that.

"Ah? I'd have thought if you were trying to get away from the war, you'd have headed for Ba Sing Se," the Kyoshi Warrior asked.

Mai looked her in the eyes. "I wasn't sure if the Dai Li would decide to arrest me for having the wrong colour eyes," she explained simply.

The Kyoshi Warrior blinked. "How..."

"Astonishingly, it seems that Fire Nation boy parts work with Earth Kingdom girl parts. Who knew?"

That make up wasn't thick enough to disguise the fact that the warrior was now blushing furiously. "I'm sorry."

Mai shrugged. "I get that a lot. Is there any paperwork I need to do or can I start looking for somewhere to sleep?" She looked up at the sky, where the sun was descending in the approximate direction of the Fire Nation. "It's a little late in the day to go looking for work."

"No paperwork and you can stay in the community hall at the top of the street for a few nights if you want," the other young woman said promptly. "That's open to all refugees. If you'll help me spread the word through everyone else arriving then I'll even buy you and your sister some supper."

Okay, now she was definitely up to something. Mai nudged Toph with the tip of one boot. "Come on, little sister. You can snog your element again after supper if you want."

Toph scrambled obediently to her feet, confirming that she had also picked up on something. Lack of even token resistance on Toph's part was always an indication she was concerned, if not outright nervous. "Do you have fire flakes?" she asked ingeniously.

The Kyoshi Warrior looked blank. "I've never heard of them."

"They're bad for you anyway," Mai advised, hiding her own disappointment and turned around to start telling the other refugees the good news.

.oOo.

"So, why'd you want to talk to us?" Toph asked the Kyoshi Warrior as soon as food had been served.

Mai seriously considered slapping the girl. Had she never heard of subtlety? Oh, right. Toph. "...I suppose that the question does cut through a lot of tedious verbal fencing," she conceded.

The Kyoshi Warrior threw her head back and laughed merrily. "Serves me right for being sneaky," she admitted. "The meal is exactly what I said it was: repayment for helping me. If you hadn't then they would have scattered and I would have had to chase them all down and let them know that they don't have to beg for shelter. Which would take all night. Seriously." She paused. "I'm Suki, by the way."

"Mai." "Toph." The two sisters introduced themselves and returned to the rice, which had roast duck in it. Delicious.

"A pleasure," Suki said with apparent sincerity. "The conversation, on the other hand, has an ulterior motive. Mai, how would you like to be a Kyoshi Warrior?"

"You're recruiting random arrivals?" she asked in surprise.

"Only the ones that are female, of a suitable age and have previous martial training," Suki smiled. "The dart-launchers are clever, but they must be very difficult to maintain." Silently, Mai conceded that point to Suki. "I'll be blunt. Sooner or later, the war is coming to Kyoshi Island. My girls are good, but there aren't really all that many of us. If the Fire Nation does invade then I'll call up all those who resigned to get married, but we'll still be significantly outnumbered."

"So if we want sanctuary here, I have to be willing to fight for it?" Mai asked. "It seems like a desperate way to make up the numbers."

Suki shook her head. "Not just numbers. Warrior to warrior, I believe that my girls are better than the Fire Nation's soldiers. But we haven't faced a serious threat in years. I need to shake them up if we're going to be ready. Bringing in outsiders, with different skills, will force them to push themselves. It will motivate them to improve their skills rather than be shown up."

Mai sipped at her water. As far as she could tell, Suki was completely sincere and open about what she was saying. Which made absolutely no sense. "And you think that this revitalised force can beat off a Fire Nation invasion force?"

"Once, perhaps even twice," she agreed confidently and then her shoulders slumped. "At which point, we'll have to cut a deal. Probably we'll be drafted into the Fire Army and have to fight for them to spare the rest of the population."

"I'd like to join the Kyoshi Warriors!" Toph offered brightly.

Hmm. That was a good idea. "No," declared Mai flatly, applying reverse psychology.

Toph's fists hit the table, causing the dishes to bounce upwards. "I'm not asking you," she told Mai angrily. It spoiled the effect slightly that she didn't then turn to Suki with big pleading eyes, but then it was difficult for Toph to realise the impact of puppy-dog eyes in negotiations.

Suki, bless her little heart, made mistake number one when dealing with Toph. "The Kyoshi Warriors are the traditional defenders of this island. There is no room amongst us for a mascot." Mai prudently picked up her bowl before the earth started moving.

In fairness to Suki, despite being ambushed, point blank, with her footing vanishing more or less instantly into mud, she managed to parry Toph's chopstick with one of her fans. It didn't really count as impressive in Mai's opinion - Toph might be the deadliest blind twelve year old in the world (and the Avatar, if that helped), but she _was_ a blind twelve year old - however at least the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors wasn't a total pushover.

The next round had Suki on the offensive, fans moving in all sorts of interesting patterns that were presumably intended to guide and control attacks launched at her. Toph let her thrusts with the chopsticks get redirected and neutralized while she quietly a raised a ten inch tall wall behind Suki's knees and then threw a bowl at her. Suki stepped backwards, Suki landed on her rear. Point to the earth bender, even if Suki had kipped up almost without breaking stride.

The finale was a flurry of blows that Mai couldn't be bothered to track as she tilted her bowl to pick out the last bits of rice. Outcome: Toph on the ground, Suki with a fan pointed at the small girl's throat and a surprised expression on her face. The surprised expression was _probably_ because of the narrow spike that rose out of the ground and vanished inside her skirts.

"I don't think that Toph's applying for the role of mascot," suggested Mai, casually switching her bowl for Suki's half-finished one.

Suki nodded slowly. "I thought you were blind," she told Toph, very carefully withdrawing the fan from its threatening position.

Toph shrugged smugly. "I am." The spike vanished.

Suki's eyes widened noticeably. "Fuck me," she breathed.

Mai sighed. Too easy. Far too easy.

.oOo.

"How pleasant to see you cousin," Azula drawled from the throne-like chair that she occupied. "I was beginning to think that father's instructions weren't being attended to."

Admiral Prince Lu Ten of the Northern Fleet elected not to rise to the bait. The meeting chamber was hardly what could be called crowded: aside from Azula, only War Minister Qin and Lu Ten's counterpart from the Southern Fleet, Zhao, were present. "We seem to be missing Prince Zuko," he said instead, picking up map from the table and studying the unit deployments there. "Are you sure he was advised of this conference?" It would be just like Azula to make Zuko's invitation vanish and then condemn him for not arriving.

"It's possible he is not aware," Azula revealed, to Lu Ten's carefully masked surprise. "Zuzu is carrying out independent operations in the southern part of the continent, which makes it quite difficult to correspond with him."

"I thought he was carrying out a tour of the garrisons?" Lu Ten noted.

"Those were his orders," Qin agreed irritably. "Apparently the Prince has interpreted his itinerary rather loosely."

Zhao chuckled darkly but said nothing. It was possible he just found the statement amusing, or that he was anticipating Zuko being reined in firmly as a result of his non-attendance.

"Well, I think we can manage the next step of my father's strategy without Zuko's assistance," Azula decided sweetly. "It's time to break the Earth Kingdom once and for all. And that means taking Ba Sing Se."

"That would do it," Lu Ten agreed. "Of course, it's easier said than done." In all the thousands of years since it became the centre of government for the Earth Kingdom, the Impenetrable City had never fallen to invasion. Totally self-sufficient behind the towering walls, even the legendary Chin the Conqueror had preferred to attack the Avatar's homeland rather than lay siege to the stronghold.

Azula's smile was sweet. "I'm sure you'd be aware, cousin." Lu Ten had raided the northern coasts extensively, and the typical response of the Earth Kingdom - to burn their villages and retreat into the city - had made the attacks largely futile. "War Minister Qin assures me that he has a siege train sufficient to the task."

Lu Ten's eyebrows rose. "Impressive." He dropped the map he'd been studying and pulled another from those heaped on the conference table, sliding it over to the Minister. "Walk me through your plan, Minister."

Qin smiled. "We've been bringing in the components for almost six months now," he revealed, tapping a point south of Serpent's Pass. "The next step is to convoy them across the lakes to the assembly point on the shore. From there:" he traced a path across the rocky wasteland south-west of Ba Sing Se "we'll approach the walls here."

"So are you going to fly over the wall?" Zhao asked sarcastically.

"No, we'll breach it," Qin said firmly. "I have the tools to do the job." He smiled slyly. "The war balloons will be acting under Princess Azula's command."

Lu Ten smiled. "You got them to work at last?" he asked. "I almost envy you, cousin," he added looking at Azula. "Those sound very useful."

"Yes," she agreed. "I'm sure that they will be. While Minister Qin attacks Ba Sing Se from the outside, I will be attacking it from within. The key to control over the city is the General Secretariat, Long Feng. He's a pragmatist - if surrendering to the Fire Nation is the only way he sees to retain control of his city, then that's what he'll do."

"And you believe that breaking through the Outer Wall will push him into a corner," Lu Ten concluded. "It could work. It would certainly make the city far easier to control if the populace see it as nothing more than a 'peaceful' transfer of power. I imagine you have plans for Long Feng's 'retirement', once he has served his purpose?"

They all smiled cynically. Long Feng might be persuaded that nothing would change in his beloved city under the rule of the Fire Nation, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Lu Ten studied the map again, this time examining the routes out of the city towards the shorelines north and east of it. "It's imperative that the Earth King does not manage to escape," he observed. "Most of the Kingdom considers him at least semi-divine, so his presence would act as a rallying point. If capturing the city is to break their spirit, then it needs to be a clean sweep."

"Agreed. So that's what you'll be doing," Azula said firmly. "Covering the routes out of the city to make sure that it doesn't happen." She smiled sweetly. "Admiral Zhao will take control of the lakes, covering the transit of Minister Qin's engines and then ensure that no one escapes by that route. Minister Qin breaks the city open, I accept control from Long Feng... and you can pick up the pieces, Lu Ten."

"Masterly," he murmured his stomach roiling. It was clear who would take the bulk of the prestige for the victory. Still, that didn't mean that he couldn't turn the matter to his advantage. "Still, it will be very dangerous for you inside the city. The Dai Li are allegedly quite impressive and I doubt Long Feng will allow you to bring a large escort while you're playing diplomat."

"War has its risks," Azula said confidently. "After all, our fathers didn't become legends by avoiding the Avatar."

"True, but I'd feel better if you had more security. After all, it would be a terrible blow to your father if anything were to happen to you." Lu Ten smiled broadly. "Why don't you take Ty Lee with you? I'm sure she'd love to see you and her special skills would be most useful if things go awry."

Azula's eyes turned calculating... and perhaps a little suspicious. "Of course, it would be so good to enjoy her company again. It's very cruel that you've kept her to yourself for so long."

Lu Ten chuckled. "Needs of the war, dear cousin. But you'll have her all to yourself for the duration of the siege and I'll just have to manage." I'm sure that you thought it was very clever to have her 'defect' to me, _dear cousin_, putting an assassin in my bed. But if I'm so willing to see her back at your side, what does that say to you about her loyalties?

.oOo.

Mai rolled over as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "What?" she asked, looking up to see Suki kneeling over her, already in full war paint although the light from outside suggested that the sun was still uncertain about rising above the horizon.

"It's time to wake up," the auburn-haired Kyoshi leader advised. "Unlike lazy mainland girls, Kyoshi Warriors must rise early to prepare for the day."

"Do you have these aphorisms written down anywhere?" Mai asked, rolling out of the thin futon that the community hall had provided her.

Suki grinned. "Of course." She looked at where Toph was sprawled on the next futon over. "I'll let you wake the little menace. The baths are out back if you want to freshen up before training begins." She turned and walked away, with tolerable stealth given the creakiness of the old wood that covered the floor of the hall.

"Are you done pretending to sleep?" Mai asked the younger girl, noticing with amusement that Toph's rather spectacular long, thick hair was sticking almost straight up, substantially increasing her height.

"How long is it until noon?" Toph mumbled, scratching at an itch under one arm. So much from the elegant young fire maiden that Mai's mother had cooed over.

Mai shook her head. "Much longer than I'm going to let you nap," she said, pushing her own blankets aside to reveal the small bundle that contained the weapons too uncomfortable to wear she was asleep. When she looked up, Toph had pulled the blankets over her head, leaving only her hair visible. There were about seventeen possible ways to wake the earth bender. It says something about Mai that the option she chose was to drop a dagger, point down, onto Toph's hair. "Oops."

A hand snaked out from under the blanket, holding the knife Mai had given Toph, and severed the locks of hair that had been pinned. "You convinced me," the blind girl muttered, burrowing out of the bedding.

"Kyoshi Warriors must rise early to prepare for the day," Mai parroted Suki.

"...you really, really wanted me to join the Kyoshi Warriors, didn't you?"

"I _want_ to see you run into the ground by a brute squad. I'll settle for you not being a total embarrassment with a knife."

Toph punched Mai in the thigh and stumbled out of the hall in search of the jakes. Mai felt uncharacteristically emotional at the gesture. So this was what having a little sister was like. It felt bruising.

By the time that they were washed and dressed - well, just dressed in Toph's case since she didn't see the need to clean anything that was going to be painted over or underneath clothes - the training yard was full of other would-be Kyoshi Warriors.

"Before you can wear the traditional garments of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy," Suki announced. "Before you can wear the war paint of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy. Therefore, you will now be tested."

"Is this a written test? Because I suck at those," a voice asked from somewhere around hip height on most of the prospective recruits. Suki had a suspicion that she knew who was heckling her.

"Well volunteered, Toph," she said. "Come out here."

She waited until the small girl was next to her and then gestured down the slope from the yard. There was a narrow side valley on the other side of one of the hills that framed the village. "Along that valley is what we Kyoshi Warriors call the confidence course. It's positively littered with obstacles and challenges to overcome. The route goes all the way down to the shore and then back along the other side of the valley. And while physical exercises are excellent conditioning for the body, there's nothing like the confidence course for putting your body to the test." Suki smiled a trifle smugly. "Just to make sure that you're all worthy to become Kyoshi Warriors, you'll all be running though the course this morning." She paused dramatically. "As will the eight year old girls who are just starting their training. You'll have a little bit of a start, but any of you who can't get all the way around the course before an eight year old are clearly not fit to be Kyoshi Warriors."

There was a general grumbling from the young women around Mai, several of whom seemed annoyed that they would be competing against little girls. Mai, for her part, was looking down the valley, trying to spot the obstacles. She could remember how much trouble she, Ty Lee and Azula could cause when they were little girls and it wasn't a comforting thought.

"Just to show you all how it's done," Suki added. "Toph here will run through the course with me right beside her, before she joins you for the actual test of course."

Toph didn't bother to look up at the Kyoshi Warrior. There was enough shuffling of feet amongst the other women that she could get a good feel for her surroundings, but the course wasn't close enough for her to judge more than the general direction so she just turned to face it. "When do we start?"

She could feel Suki tensing to spring into a run. "N-" Toph burst into a run a fraction before Suki could steal the lead. "-ow! Sneaky bitch," she added, gearing her pace to Toph's admittedly slower one. Youthful energy couldn't entirely outweigh the advantage of having longer legs and, of course, Suki was considerably more used to running. "How do you do that?"

"I listen," Toph said, between the deep breathes she was using to regulate her body. Much as she preferred earth bending, she had to admit that the fire bending techniques had their uses besides lighting stuff on fire. Not that she should light stuff on fire right now, anyway. In her way Mai could be almost as restrictive as her parents, although at least she would explain her reasoning and sometimes change her mind if Toph argued cleverly enough.

It was frustrating having to work around things instead of blasting through them the way that she wanted to. Thank you father, for that last 'gift', she thought spitefully. Time was she would have been able to detect the course from the starting point and even decipher the obstacles well in advance. Instead, she was dependent upon Suki's own movements to give her a guide.

There were two wood posts ahead, either side of what she presumed to be the path. As they got closer, Toph could make out the edge of a wooden board just brushing the ground. Some kind of fence? She kicked a pebble up at an angle and it bounced off something at head point. Yep, a fence. She hung back, deliberately to let Suki go first but the Kyoshi Warrior also slowed.

"What's wrong, Toph?" Suki teased. "Is the mighty earth bender afraid of the unknown?"

Toph grit her teeth. She could earth bend around the problem, but with her current weakness it would slow her down immensely to lift herself over the fence. Alternatively, she was fairly sure that she could smash her way through the barrier, but that probably wouldn't go down too well. So that meant falling back on a more physical approach. Speeding up again, she ran for the wooden boards and ran her hands up them quickly. There were gaps between them, presumably intentional and she scrambled up them like a ladder.

The wood shook as she climbed, presumably because Suki was climbing alongside her. "I thought so," the Kyoshi Warrior deduced. "You can't see the wood, can you?"

"I can't see anything," Toph reminded her.

"But you use your earth bending in a similar way," Suki speculated. "And that doesn't work on wood, so you have trouble with things made of that."

Toph's hands reached the last plank and she rolled over the top of the barrier, letting her own weight tip over it. "So what?"

"So up here you really are blind."

Both girls dropped and rolled on the ground to absorb the impact. "And down here I'm not," Toph said, running for the next obstacle, a mud-pit. She thought that there was something lying on the top of the mud, probably intended to make it more difficult, whatever it was.

"Still, it is a weakness," Suki warned. "How do you plan to counter for it?"

Toph frowned. "I've got some ideas." She jumped onto the mud, picking her way around whatever it was laying on top of the mud.

Suki made a running jump, her landing revealing where the other side of the pit was. "Careful of the thorns," she warned, amused. "Most people just jump the ditch."

"I'm not afraid of a little earth between my toes," Toph explained, cheating a little with her earth bending to create a step that she could use between the mud and the bank.

"So I see. You don't seem to use your bending as much as some that I've seen."

I used to. I wish I still could. "I don't want to rely on just one thing," Toph said. "It's not like I could have used it on the ship."

Suki chuckled. "The next obstacle is a log over a ditch," she warned. "Don't bend - I want to see what your balance is like."

Toph obeyed. Why is she now helping me? It's nice, but what is she up to?

.oOo.

Even with a first run through to get used to the obstacles, Toph was among the last runners to complete the confidence course, although she was still able to beat any of the eight year olds. Mai, on the other hand, had relatively little difficulty and the two of them walked down towards the sea after Suki had congratulated those who passed and told them were to report for their first training session that evening.

"I need to learn to water bend," Toph said quietly

Mai nodded. "Why?"

"In the swamp, Huu fought by bending the water in the vines," Toph explained. "If I learn to detect water the way I do earth, then the water in plants will help me to see better."

"Ah. Well, Zuko told me that you had a very good sense of fire," Mai told the earth bender. "If you can do the same for water then that would help, but I don't know how you're going to learn without a teacher."

Toph walked out on the sand until water covered her toes. "I didn't learn to earth bend from a master bender, I learnt from the badger moles. Perhaps I can do the same now."

Mai considered. "You don't mean you want to learn water bending from badger moles, do you?" Because she wasn't sure if there were any of the creatures on Kyoshi Island and she was almost certain that they didn't swim.

"The legends say that air benders and fire benders learnt from animals, much as Oma learned from the badger moles. But water benders learned to bend from the Moon and the Ocean: from the tides." She shrugged. "Although I'm a little vague about what a tide is. I was more interested in hearing about earth bending at the time."

It was a clear request for information, Mai realised. "I don't know a great deal about tides," she admitted. "Something about water moving up and down beaches or the like."

"Well it's a good thing that I'm on a beach then."

Several minutes later. "Mai, how long does the tide take to move up and down a beach?"

"Hours."

"...this is going to take forever."

.oOo.

Suki was apparently of the belief that the future Kyoshi Warriors needed to be entirely familiar with every inch of the island's shoreline, which at least left Toph with ample time to spend knee deep in water. Mai didn't watch. "Once you've seen nothing once, you've seen nothing a thousand times," she pointed out when Toph asked why. Much to the surprise of Suki, who witnessed the question, Toph seemed pleased by the answer. Then again, Suki wasn't sure what Toph was doing in the water to begin with.

Since she had all that time without Toph to provide a diversion from the stultifying beauty of Kyoshi Island, Mai devoted a moderate effort to ensuring that none of her particular squad of trainees was an embarrassment with throwing weapons and considerable effort to working out how the traditional Kyoshi war fan could be thrown.

She was working at the latter endeavour, having some success with spiking the corners into a target post when Suki sought her out.

"Your sister's a strange one," she noted, leaning against the adjacent pole to that Mai was targeting. She had seen Mai demonstrate her skills to be confident of her safety in doing so.

"She's a bender," Mai said and threw another fan. It cut a tiny sliver from the post and fell to the ground. Pathetic. If that was soldier then he'd barely have more than a paper cut.

Suki waited for further elaboration and when it was not forthcoming, she pulled out her fan and started tapping it against her gauntlets. "You don't like benders?"

Mai walked forward and recovered her fans. "I don't get sentimental about them," she replied evenly. Given that the entire island was named for an avatar, the most bendery of all benders, actually agreeing that she disliked them (she didn't, that would require caring) would probably lead to being locked away somewhere, or something similarly tedious.

"Well, given that she's an earth bender, take it from me that it's a bit odd she spends all her time knee-deep in the sea. Is she trying to become a water bender or something?"

"Yes." Why lie when the truth was so much less plausible.

Suki's eyes went wide. "What? But that's impossible, unless..."

Mai threw one of the fans at the post. It pierced the log more or less at eye height and remained embedded.

"She'd be around the right age."

"Yes, she picked up on that right away," Mai agreed. "It took quite a while to persuade her to stop playing with the candles when she was younger."

Suki looked excited. "Did she manage anything?"

"She burnt most of her fingers," lied Mai laconically. Second fan - inch and a half to the left, same penetration. Not too bad. "I suppose it's possible that she is what she hopes she is," leaving aside that she hopes she's just got a freaky chakra system, "but I'm not holding my breath."

"I see." Suki's face fell a little. "I suppose I was hoping a little too much. I'm like a lot of girls here; Kyoshi is a hero of mine. Meeting another Avatar, the next Earth Kingdom Avatar, it's always been a dream of mine. Do you have any dreams, Mai?"

Zuko's face crossed Mai's thoughts for a moment. "I did." She recovered her fans.

Suki's face fell. "I'm sorry. Kyoshi Island has been peaceful for so long, sometimes I forget."

.oOo.

The moon was high in the sky when Mai walked out to see if Toph was planning to come to bed that evening. Other than the sentries - Suki took security seriously, and besides which it gave her a punishment to lay on slackers - the rest of the group were already bedded down for the night, this time at a campsite rather than a local hall. The younger girl was still standing in the water, although it had now risen to her waist.

"If it gets much deeper, I'm going to start giving you swimming lessons," Mai advised.

She saw the corner of Toph's lips curve upwards in a smirk. Then the Earth bender moved her hands slightly and turned to face Mai, her legs remaining quite still. Floating. "I can give _you_ swimming lessons," she offered.

Mai raised an eyebrow. "It's going well then?"

"I can do a little, anyway," Toph said and drifted a little closer to shore before starting to walk out of the water. "Deep water..." She shuddered. "I'd be lost."

"You've also been in the water for hours," Mai noted, watching water drip from Top's pants. "Isn't that cold?"

"Well I wasn't," Toph shivered. "The water was warmer than it is out here." She moved one hand through a slow arc in front of her and water literally flew off her, spattering onto the sand.

"Suki wondered why you're in the water every day," Mai warned calmly, wondering what Toph would do if Suki discovered the truth. With at least a little grasp on three elements there didn't seem to be any doubt that Toph was the Avatar.

Toph stomped hard on the sand, raising a small cloud of it. "What is she up to?" she grumbled. "I don't understand her at all. She doesn't feel hostile, but she keeps poking around at us."

"Hundreds of years ago Kyoshi protected this island," Mai reminded her. "Suki wishes for another Avatar to do the same now, little sister."

"I can't protect anyone," Toph said bitterly. "Not even myself." She stamped again on the sand and scowled at the little cloud of sand that rose up in response. "That would have hurled boulders all the way to the cliffs," she said bleakly. "Now all I can do is throw sand."

"How does it feel to be like the rest of us, who can't bend at all?"

Colour rushed to Toph's cheeks. "How would it feel if someone cut your fingers off?" she asked.

Mai frowned and then kicked out at one of the bushes above the bush, triggering one of the launchers strapped to her calf. A dart hurtled out and slashed through the leaves. "It would be difficult," she admitted. "But it wouldn't leave me any more defenceless. Remember, had you been fighting for real, Suki would also have died."

Toph shrugged and then looked up as rain began to fall from the sky. As droplets struck them she reached out unerringly and took Mai's hand. "Maybe," she said, sounding only half-convinced. "Let's get out of the rain."

"I thought you liked water," Mai asked as they walked up the path towards the campsite.

"No, I hate it."

Behind the bush that Mai had targeted, Suki reached out and gently pulled the dart out from where it had pinned her green uniform to the dense shrub. Either she had the worst luck ever or Mai had spotted her. No, if the knife thrower had noticed Suki spying on them, surely she would have warned her sister. But with what they were talking about... Toph had been water bending, for real. Surely she must be the Avatar then! But why hadn't she simply declared herself?

Troubled by the thoughts, Suki sat and toyed with the dart. "What's going on? And why did it sound as if she felt helpless? The Avatar is the greatest of all benders so why did she sound weak? And why would an Avatar feel... weak?"

.oOo.

The next morning, Suki handed leadership of the training group over to her second and began to cut back across the island towards Kyoshi's Shrine. Even without her doubts, she could not decide this matter herself: it would affect not only the Kyoshi Warriors but everyone on the island.

Despite the punishing pace that the young warrior set, the sun was high in the sky when she reached the shrine and Oyaji was sitting outside, drinking tea. The old chief smiled as he saw Suki running up the slope. "Suki! Welcome back. I thought that you wouldn't have time to visit the Shrine until you had your new students ready. Is everything well?"

Suki bowed her head. "The training goes well," she reported. "But there has been a strange development. The youngest of the students is an earth bender named Toph."

"So I hear." Oyaji poured himself another cup of tea and produced a second cup for Suki. "She must be quite a handful, to have fought you to a draw."

Behind her make up, Suki blushed. "She ambushed me," she said in excuse, although it was not the surprise that had led to her defeat.

"Of course," the old man nodded, sipping at his tea.

"Last night I saw her water bending."

Tea exploded out of Oyaji's mouth, all over Suki. "What!?"

"Toph can bend more than one element," Suki confirmed, wiping at the tea, not caring that it was leaving streaks in her face paint. "And she's the right age: she could be the new Avatar."

Oyaji raised one hand to calm the young woman. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he told her solemnly. "You may be right, but jumping to conclusions could cause great trouble." The old man handed her the other tea cup and then lifted the tea pot. "We can talk about this inside, in front of Kyoshi. Her wisdom will guide us in this matter."

Inside the shrine, Suki took a moment to look around at the various artefacts of the long dead Avatar. Like many children on the island it was seeing the robes, the weapons and other remnants of Kyoshi that had inspired her to join the Kyoshi Warriors. Now, when she looked at them, she wondered that so little was left of the woman that traditions claimed to have been among the greatest of the Avatars. Kyoshi had served to maintain the balance of the world for over two centuries, but it seemed her legacy would survive her by even that long... unless the new Avatar could make matters right.

Suki thought of Toph and a shiver went through her. Earth benders could move small mountains - for that matter, Kyoshi had torn her entire homeland away from the continent, creating Kyoshi Island, but Toph seemed to strain to move much more than her own weight when she was earth bending. She showed signs of being an excellent warrior - strong, quick and fearless - but the Fire Nation would hardly be intimidated by her bending.

She's just young, still growing into her power, Suki told herself and sat cross-legged facing Oyaji, sipping from her tea cup, letting the warm drink refresh her after the long run.

The old man passed her a rag. "Better clean your face off, child. It wouldn't do for anyone to see the leader of Kyoshi Warriors with patchy face paint."

Suki chuckled and cleaned the make-up off efficiently, well accustomed to the routine.

"Now, young Toph," Oyaji said thoughtfully. "I think half the island has heard how she... demonstrated... her earth bending on you." Suki blushed again. She had no doubt that a dozen ribald exaggerations were making their way through the gossip of the island's people. "So, what did you see her using her water bending for?"

"She dried herself out after standing waist deep in the water," Suki reported. "And I think she was using it to move through the water somehow."

"Well some people call the latter swimming," Oyaji joked. "As for the former, why was she standing in the water? Is that a new form of training that you've introduced?"

"No, her sister told me that she was trying to learn how to water bend," explained Suki wryly. "She made a joke of it, said that Toph had always wanted to be the Avatar ever since she learned she was the right age. Said that she tried to fire bend when she was younger. Of course, Mai claimed that it never worked."

"So her sister - this Mai - probably knows then."

Suki nodded. "She was right there when Toph dried herself. There's no way she could have missed it and she didn't bat an eyelash... then again, she might not have anyway. Mai's pretty unshakeable."

"You like her?" Oyaji asked.

"I've been considering giving her a squad as soon as she finishes her training. She's good - maybe as good as I am," Suki admitted and then her lips thinned. "Of course, she's also been lying to me."

Oyaji sighed and poured some more tea. "Perhaps with good reason. It has only been twelve years since the Avatar Kanna was killed and avatar spirit reborn. You may recall that Kyoshi was sixteen when she was told of her destiny, that is the tradition of the Avatar. Only in great need will the Avatar be allowed to learn their identity before they have completed their childhood. Such was the mistake made by the Air Nomads with the Avatar Roku's successor."

"I heard that he was a coward," Suki murmured.

"Would you expect a child to carry the burden of the entire world easily?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "Could you have led the Kyoshi Warriors as you were when you were Toph's age? The duties of the Avatar are far harder and it is unreasonable to expect someone so young to be able to master them. If Toph is truly the Avatar then her sister may want no more than to protect her from those who would abuse her... and, of course, from the Fire Nation. Think, young one, what would happen if Toph were to be publically known as the Avatar?"

"You believe me?"

"It seems likely," Oyaji agreed. "But you have not answered my question."

"There would be a great celebration," Suki admitted. "It's impossible that the Fire Nation would not learn of her presence. And they'd attack us the way they did the Air Temples: with overwhelming numbers, to kill anyone who could possibly be the Avatar." Her shoulders slumped.

"Perhaps even more damaging, everyone would expect the Avatar to defend us," Oyaji added. "I have no doubt that she is very brave, but do you believe that she has the power at her age to defeat an entire army the way Kyoshi did? Remember, Kyoshi had spent many years learning the four bending arts from the greatest of masters. That is not a luxury that this child has had."

Suki's eyes went wide. "Air bending! With the Air Nomads gone, there is no one left to teach her air bending. And without that..."

Oyaji reached over and patted the warrior reassuringly on the back of her hand. "All is not lost, Suki. Remember, the Avatar is the bridge between this world and the spirit worlds. Her guidance will not only come from her teachers who dwell in this one."

"I understand." Suki took a deep breath to steady herself. "So. What do we do?"

"For now, we should do nothing. It is possible, if unlikely, that we are mistaken. Wait and listen, assess the situation," Oyaji ordered. "Do not alert them to your suspicion. Since the Avatar's sister wishes to protect her, allow her to do so. If she is the Avatar then it is our duty to give her sanctuary here until she is ready."

"I will," Suki promised. "I swear it by Kyoshi."

The chief leant forwards, staring Suki firmly in the eye. "When you became a Kyoshi Warrior you swore an oath in the name of the Avatar Kyoshi to protect this island and those who live here. If the Fire Nation comes here, whether they seek the Avatar here or not, you must ensure that she escapes them. Even if it means abandoning your duties here." He smiled sadly. "I pray that such a dark day never comes, but the Avatar must be protected at any cost."


	6. Chapter Five

Mai would have been more impressed with the ceremonies that formally celebrated the induction of the trainees into the sisterhood of the Kyoshi Warriors if it didn't resemble so closely some of the cliques at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls clustering in their dormitories to do each other's make-up.

"At least no one's doing anything to my feet," Toph said thankfully from beside Mai. Although the younger girl's first attempt to don the war paint had been predictably disastrous, she had corrected for her previous errors and was able to do a passable job now - as long as someone told her which pot of paint was which.

"Your feet?" Mai asked.

Toph shuddered. "Mother took me to a spa once," she said under her breath. "They 'beautified' my feet, scraping away half my calluses. I couldn't see anything with them for most of the rest of the day."

Mai winced. Her own parents weren't the most understanding, but they'd never suggested that she wear a blindfold as some obscure concession to fashion. Then again, blindfolds had never been fashionable in Fire Nation society, so maybe she was giving her mother a little more credit than necessary.

"The golden insignia that you wear symbolise the honour of the warrior's heart," Suki reminded the new Kyoshi Warriors. "The silk threads symbolise the brave blood that flows through her veins. Many of you are not from Kyoshi Island, but by joining us in this way, you have all become daughters of Kyoshi like our founder Koko."

"Many of you are already warriors. While the Kyoshi Warriors have always practised the martial arts passed down from our ancestors, we do not ask that you forget your own skills now that you have joined with us. Although Kyoshi and her daughter were both of the Earth Kingdom, our arts draw equally from those of the Water Tribes, in homage to the Ocean that surrounds Kyoshi Island. Just as you have learned the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors, now your sister warriors will learn from you, how to best fight alongside and against your own martial traditions. The Avatar learned from all of the four nations, seeking wisdom amongst all of them. So to, do we."

Suki bowed her head deeply, as did the other Kyoshi Warriors around the room. "Welcome, sisters."

Mai, Toph and the others returned the bow.

When Suki's face came up she was smiling. "Now, enough with the speeches. We've prepared a feast, so let's enjoy the food, the dancing and each other's company."

There was cheer and the new Kyoshi Warriors dispersed, their more experienced fellows guiding them in friendly groups into the yard where the feast awaited them. With everyone dressed and made up the same way, within moments it was hard to tell newcomers from veterans, which was the point, Mai supposed.

Individuals were still possible to pick out, if you were familiar with their hair or some other distinguishing mark however. Amongst each other, the Kyoshi Warriors were individuals but to outsiders they displayed only a single face.

"I know that unsmiling face," Suki observed brightly, moving easily through the crowd to stand at Mai's elbow. "You're not going to cheer up even now?"

"Spiky never does," Toph observed from Mai's other side and nudged the older girl sharply below the ribs.

"I delegate chirpiness," Mai replied in a deadpan voice.

"Right, right," Suki said, shaking her head. "Well if you're not going to enjoy the party, let's talk business for a moment. I'm just about done drawing up the rosters for which warriors will be joining the various villages around the island. Usually, we break up family members -"

Mai and Toph both froze up.

"- but in this case I'm going to make an exception. I want Mai to take over the squad posted to Kyoshi's Shrine, but it's also traditional that when we have a bender amongst our warriors that they be stationed there. I don't want either of you to think you're getting special treatment though," she added firmly. "Guarding the Shrine is one of the most important responsibilities that we have when we're at peace - if thieves were to make off with the artefacts there then we would all be disgraced. And if there is an attack on the island then your squad will be our main reserve."

"If it's so important, why do you want me to take charge there?" Mai asked. "Why not someone from Kyoshi Island?"

"Because you're not an outsider," Suki explained carefully, as if to a particularly slow child. "You're a Kyoshi Warrior, one of us. From today it doesn't matter where you came from. And you're the best choice. The only person I'd trust more with the job is me, and I have too many other responsibilities."

.oOo.

"I miss Mai," Ty Lee observed out of the blue.

Azula rolled her eyes at the statement, but at least conversing on that point would be more interesting than any of the spirit forsaken literature that the Dai Li escort had provided for them while they waited to meet with Long Feng. If the sappy romances were what the nobility of the Earth Kingdom really read, then their problems ran deeper than she had ever imagined. As an example of the culture that the Dai Li forcibly imposed on the population of Ba Sing Se, all that it convinced her of was the sheer humanitarian goodness of her plans for them. Really, she deserved a parade.

"What brought her to mind?" she asked, propping one elbow on the arm of the splendid but not terribly comfortable stone chair she had claimed. "It's very sad, of course, but she's been gone for several months now."

"Oh, her aura balanced us out," the acrobatic girl explained. "I'm very pink and with you being crimson -"

"Of course I am," Azula sighed. "I'm the Princess of the Fire Nation, what other colour would I be?"

"Yeah, but Mai was all dark shades, she accented everything so nicely. I'm worried we might be off balance without her."

Azula blinked. "If I'm following you correctly, you're concerned that I might start acting like some sappy, puppy-loving romantic without Mai to drag my mood down," she said, in an uncomfortably tentative tone. "All things considered, I'd have to say that it sounds very unlikely."

"No, seriously," Ty Lee disagreed. "It's just not the same with out her here."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, apparently Zuzu's been in a total mood since she got buried," Azula told her. "Maybe when we're done here we can go see him and he can act like a wet blanket."

"You've heard from him lately?"

Azula laughed. "Zuzu's too busy burning the southern provinces into submission to write, but I still get intelligence reports. If they're to be believed, he's so incoherent with grief that he isn't even asking for surrenders any more, just razing every town he comes across. It's rather pathetic, really."

Ty Lee rolled over on the bunk she was lying on. "Aw that's so romantic." She cuddled a cushion. "Well except the burning towns bits."

"I suppose. It's certainly helpful - a few towns even surrendered in the hope that we'd protect them from his roaring rampage of revenge against everyone. Still, you have to wonder - well, I have to wonder," Azula corrected himself. "How dangerous could they possibly be if they're running in fear from Zuzu? These are the same people that Admiral Zhao couldn't conquer in three years. Just was the good Admiral playing at?"

"Well maybe Zuko is stronger than Zhao?"

Azula laughed harshly. "Oh dear, Ty. That's a terrible thing to say about Admiral Zhao. And if it were true..." She hummed thoughtfully. "Oh my... that could make things very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Thank you, Ty."

She rose and walked over to her writing desk, humming merrily to her self.

Ty Lee sighed and rolled over onto her back. "Yeah, her chi's way crazy. I wish Mai was here."

.oOo.

"There's something going on over on the mainland," Mai reported to Suki, handing over the telescope that she'd been using.

Suki accepted the instrument and put it to her eye. Although the mainland was completely below the horizon from the shoreline, at this altitude it was possible to make out a smudge of land. And it was entirely too easy to see a column of smoke rising from it. "It must be quite a fire," she concluded. "Too much for it to be just them celebrating Avatar Day a week or two early," she said, relinquishing the telescope over to the third Kyoshi Warrior at the lookout post built into the roof of the barracks.

"Uh... what am _I_ supposed to do this?" asked Toph snidely, returning it to Mai.

"Exactly what you just did," Suki replied, unfazed. "Mai, I want you to put together a team to investigate. The people of Chin Village are no friends to Kyoshi Island, but we need to know if this is simply a fire getting out of hand or if the Fire Nation has attacked them."

Mai nodded thoughtfully. "Toph, fetch June and Shu-lin."

The small girl turned and ran down the steps from the wooden tower. Suki noted that the earth bender had no difficulty at all perceiving the individual stairs, something that she would not have expected Toph to manage when she first came to Kyoshi Island. It was perhaps the least of changes in the girl, certainly the least connected to her training as a warrior.

"Whatever happens, don't start a fight with the Fire Nation," Suki ordered seriously. "My orders from Oyaji are very firm: we are not to provoke an attack upon Kyoshi Island." She stepped closer. "Less officially, just don't leave anyone behind, even if you do have to fight for them. I want all three of you back safely."

Mai nodded her understanding. "Four."

Suki blinked. "Four?"

"There will be four of us."

"You, Shu-lin and June. Who else?"

Mai rolled her eyes at Suki's obtuseness and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors stared at her in shock. "Look Mai, I know you don't like leaving your sister alone, but you need to be objective here. She's too young and inexperienced for something this dangerous. This is why I wasn't going to post the two of you to the same place."

"I chose Toph for the same reason I chose the others," Mai answered coolly.

Suki shook her head. "What reason?" she demanded, keeping her voice down as she heard the first footsteps start up the stairs.

"Because we're all killers," revealed Mai with narrowed eyes. Suki's eyes widened but she bit back a response as three Kyoshi Warriors joined them, crowding the lookout platform.

June was a tall, sultry woman with a burned face from a past encounter with a fire bender. Although the war paint masked the scar, it couldn't hide the immobility of the flesh beneath it. Shu-lin, on the other hand, had never left Kyoshi or fought anything more hostile than a sparring match so far as Suki knew and had been known to the warleader for more than half her life. The notion that she was a killer simply didn't mesh at all with Suki's view of her. And then, of course, there was Toph.

The Avatar, the hope of half the world, the bridge between the spirit world. It was too much to hope that an Avatar could avoid deaths in carrying out their duties... but to be defined as a killer? So young?

Mai had to be mistaken. She had to be.

.oOo.

The smoke was still rising, blotting out the stars, when the four Kyoshi Warriors paddled their canoe to the foot of the cliff that Chin Village was built upon. They hadn't found it at all difficult to find the shore in the dark - the fires above were almost ideal as a landmark and the sunset had hidden their approach. And, of course, the fire benders would be weaker with the sun below the horizon - another good reason for timing their little foray for night time.

The path up the cliff was almost certain to be guarded, but there was a ravine a short distance to the north that was deep enough to hide the canoe. "Toph, find a route up the cliff," Mai ordered quietly. "Make one if you have to, but keep it discreet. June, Shu-lin, help me camouflage the canoe." She pointed at the shrubs that somehow managed to cling to the ravine walls in places. "If we heap a few of those on top of the boat no one is likely to see it from above."

They were almost done when there was a rattle from above and a pebble tumbled down the side of the ravine. Mai looked up to see Toph hanging from the steep slope by one hand. "This is the easiest route," the younger girl advised in a low voice. "I've put hand holds in on the trickier bits."

Mai turned her head to the other two. "June, finish covering the boat and follow us up," she ordered, looking almost cheerful for a change. Then she jumped up to the first foothold she could see and started following Toph up the cliff.

The two Kyoshi Warriors still at the bottom of the slope looked at each other. "What's with her?" Shu-lin asked, reaching for a handhold to start her own climb.

June shrugged. "Like I'd know. Maybe this sneaking around gets her hot." She went back to working with the shrubs. "Somehow, I didn't envisage gardening as a vital skill when I agreed to join the famous Kyoshi Warriors," she thought out loud.

Another pebble rolled down the slope onto her. "Quietly," hissed Mai, barely audible from the darkness above June.

Because ravines, by their very nature, are of little agricultural use, the top of the cliff had become home to a variety of plants that the farmers of Chin Village did not tolerate in their fields, the resultant hedgerow providing a natural marker for the potentially dangerous drop. Toph had dealt with the barrier by burrowing a narrow hole beneath it, one just barely wide enough for the older three to wriggle through.

By the time June reached the top, Shu-lin was already halfway across the fields towards the village, following the line of another hedgerow. Toph was following the Kyoshi native, close enough to provide ranged support but sufficiently far behind that a single fire blast wouldn't catch them both. "So we're teaming up?" she asked Mai, who was waiting for her.

The squad leader nodded her confirmation. "We're checking the road," she said and then, as if expanding the explanation was physically painful for her added: "The others will check the village square."

June grinned, not caring that without her face paint the expression would probably have sent small children running in terror for their mommies. Mai's almost constipated reaction to having to explain things to anyone who wasn't Toph never failed to amuse. Clearly, the other girl didn't get out much. Probably spent half her life minding her little sister.

The two of them moved seamlessly along the hedgerow towards the road, which was slightly sunken and - predictably - flanked by hedgerows on either side. June had point so she got to push through the shrubs to check the road while Mai watched her back. It probably would have been easier to get through the bushes wearing something other than the long robes of a Kyoshi Warrior, she noted.

"komodo rhinos," she reported tersely. "No more than twelve, no fewer than eight." Which meant anything from four to more than thirty Fire Nation soldiers, most probably the latter - four soldiers with a remount each would be very unlikely to attack a settlement as large as Chin Village. There was no need to elaborate though; Mai could do the maths as easily as she could. "Only going in, not away." And since there was only one road to Chin Village, which was on a slight peninsula, that meant they were still there. "No sign of recent boot prints." Which meant it was entirely a cavalry force. Last that June had heard there weren't any major Fire Nation forces near enough to be sending out cavalry patrols but it had been most of a year since she'd heard anything concrete.

Mai nodded. "We'll check the village," she decided and waved for June to lead the way.

.oOo.

It was quite easy to find the village square. The thirty-foot wooden statues' burning was a pretty big hint.

One had fallen over due to the fire having started at the bottom and weakened the support structure, sending it crashing into one of the municipal buildings, setting that on fire. It was hard to make out any details but judging by the others, it had probably represented the mysterious Air Nomad Avatar between Avatar Roku and Avatar Kanna.

Their representations had been ignited around the head and they were still burning, almost like giant candles, identifiable mainly by the colour of their robes. And like candles they lit the area around them. Red firelight illuminating blackened wood and blackened bodies in a way that was weirdly beautiful until you looked closely.

There was no sign of Shu-lin or Toph, but if they were still present then they were probably doing the same as June and Mai, doing their best to watch their surroundings without being seen. In the flickering light of several dozen burning houses, there were enough moving shadows to disguise an entire platoon.

"Well I think we can rule out this being anyone but Fire Nation soldiers," Jun murmured.

Mai nodded. "Which raises the question of what they're doing," she replied quietly.

June looked around at the devastation. "Looks pretty clear to me, Spiky," she said, stealing Toph's nickname for the cool-tempered girl.

"Even the Fire Nation doesn't burn villages just to see them burn," Mai clarified.

"Plunder first and then the burn?" June asked sardonically. She cocked her head. "Sounds like any action is going to be nearer to the cliffs."

Mai nodded and the pair of them began to work their way carefully through the alleyways. It would have been faster to cut across the roofs - but skylining themselves for any fire benders would be almost as dangerous as trusting to burning rafters to support them. Several buildings had already been reduced to shells when the rafters had given up on supporting the tiles.

Fortunately for their ability to arrive stealthily, the cliff was marginally lower where the village stood, forming a natural amphitheatre focused upon a tiny shrine. At least twenty Fire Nation soldiers stood around the top, looking inwards, making it difficult to see what lay within. The skull-faces of their helmets made an eerie parallel to the white face paint of the Kyoshi Warriors. komodo rhinos were positioned in pairs along the perimeter, each pair's reins in the hands of a single soldier.

"..an enemy of the Fire Nation," a voice was declaiming. A younger man, Mai suspected. Well educated, probably in the Capital. The sort of man who would usually hold a position in one of the prestigious regiments, not in a band of frontier scouts. For that matter, the armour was not that of a rough and ready field unit - although battered by service, it looked like that of elite guards, which would mean that most or all of them were fire benders. "Foolish of you to think that your little festival in his honour would be overlooked."

"Please, no!" a thinner voice protested. "We hate the Avatar; the festival is to remember the crimes of the Avatar Kyoshi!"

The first speaker laughed. "Oh, how terrible. I've clearly made a grievous error." His voice hardened. "Do you take me for a fool?" There was a rush of fire and a terrible scream that receded slowly as the source fell away off the cliff.

"Great," June observed. "A terror raid. At least they don't have a ship, doesn't look like they'll be a threat to Kyoshi Island." She started to move backwards and then realised that Mai hadn't followed her.

"This is wrong," Mai mused, eyes still fixed on the back of the soldiers.

June sighed. "Yes, it is. But we can't do anything about it now."

"Not that," clarified Mai. "These aren't the sort of soldiers sent out for this sort of thing. They're someone's personal guards and we need to find out whose."

"Right... and how do you suggest that we do that? There are a few too many of those guys for us to fight, even if the others were with us. And if we go any closer then chances are that they'll spot us and we will have to fight them."

"Not if we're underneath one of the komodo rhinos."

June's face twitched. "That's the first joke I've ever heard you make. Are you feeling alright?"

Mai ignored her and started to crawl through the grass towards the nearest of the riding beasts.

"Okay... not a joke," concluded June. "I'm not following you out there though."

The other Kyoshi Warrior kept crawling.

I must be out of my mind, June thought as she crawled after her.

.oOo.

In contrast to the village, the amphitheatre was strangely clean. Of course, that was largely because the cliff was right there for handy disposal of... mess.

With the soldiers all positioned around the edge, the paved floor was occupied on one side by the surviving villagers. Mostly the women and the children, with a few men who were merely feeble or useless. Mai was sure that anyone who even looked as if they _might_ put up resistance had been killed swiftly.

The only man on the other side of the paving was clearly the leader of the soldiers, wearing lightweight armour. Rather than full helmet, he wore a hideous metal mask that covered his face with the visage of a devil, leaving the rest of his head bare - of protection and largely of hair. If it wasn't for the circumstances it should have looked laughable, hadn't he ever looked into a mirror?

Under the bellies of a pair of komodo rhinos, Mai and June exchanged glances. June's was questioning and Mai shook her head slightly. Giving Mai a disbelieving look, June mimed the Fire Nation officer's high topknot. Surely that must be recognisable? There couldn't be all that many idiots prancing around as if they were from the age of the Sun Warriors.

Mai held out her hand palm down and then brought it slowly down, pressing herself against the grass to avoid startling the komodo rhino by touching its underbelly as it began to shuffle uneasily. Possibly it had scented them... or perhaps it was simply bored. The beasts were ill-tempered at best.

"I have had enough of the raids, of the bandits that you have sheltered and fed," the officer said, glaring savagely at the crowd. "The age of four nations, the age of the Avatar... it is all over. The Fire Nation will transform the world in its image. We have tried doing so peacefully... and you have seen the results. Your young men emerge from the hills and ravage our people, preying upon women, upon children..." He turned sharply, striding towards them. "You may note that my men have not done so. Those who resisted, those who we knew to be our enemies, only they have been put to fire and to the sword."

"Because it has harboured banditry, this village will be razed to the ground," he added casually. "However, the Fire Nation is not without sympathy. Your men brought this upon your homes, but my men will escort you to another settlement where you may make new lives." Unspoken, both Kyoshi Warriors knew, was that those lives would be in the Fire Nation colonies, very probably with men not unlike those who had ravaged Chin Village.

They exchanged looks again and began to slowly work their way backwards. Horrible though the attack had been, there was nothing that the two of them could do to undo it, and at least if the raid was a punitive one, there was little likelihood of it being repeated against Kyoshi Island.

"Yeah, you're a real hero," spat a female voice.

A familiar voice.

Mai's eyes went wide as a small figure flipped up over the lip of the cliff, landing on her feet beside the small shrine. Green robes, white face paint with her eyes detailed in red and black. A simple headband pinning raven-dark hair. A Kyoshi Warrior... and the diminutive stature made it clear precisely which one.

"I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"

.oOo.

Zuko stared at the bizarre apparition that challenged him. For a brief moment he thought that a spirit had emerged somehow from the shrine, but then he recollected the decoration of one of the wooden statues and realised that the child - a girl he presumed - was wearing a costume. Part of the village's ridiculous festival no doubt, dressing their children in reflection of past Avatars.

"I have to wonder where you heard that phrase," he said, the words echoing strangely from the mask that he wore. "But you are clearly too young to understand its significance. The Agni Kai is a duel," he strode forward, intending to slap down the insolent child, "between fire benders."

Before he could reach arm's reach, the child cupped her hands before her and a flame sprang to life within them. "I don't see the problem," she said. "Unless, of course, you _fear_ such a contest."

Instantly Zuko's irritation flared into fury and he was glad that his mask disguised his reaction. The girl was mocking him, he realised, starting at her lidded eyes. "Very well then," he said when he was sure he could control his voice. "I presume that you are familiar with the forms. As you do not appear to have a second, I will not call one forth."

"If you're sure you don't need the assistance," the girl said casually, turning her back and walking towards the cliff top. At the edge facing away from him, she dropped to one knee.

Zuko glared at her and then turned away, walking to a suitable place for his own mediation. Before kneeling, he unstrapped his swords and threw them onto the grass of the amphitheatre. A moment later, his boots and armour joined it. For this conflict, on a battlefield, he saw need to also remove the close fitting shirt beneath. The village was still burning in front of him and he realised that as a result, his vision would be less adjusted to the darkness behind his opponent. Happenstance? Or strategy? Was his opponent truly a child?

No. He could not waste thought on such matters. This was the Agni Kai, no matter how irregular. These last moments were for the calming of his mind, readying himself to bring forth fire. Readying himself for death also, if that was his fate. He almost laughed at the idea, but that emotion also had no place here. This could be an assassin. He would not put it past the Earth Kingdom to hire one of his more mercenary countrymen to kill him. I have made them howl, he thought with dark satisfaction. If it is so, then they have truly shown their weakness, recognising that only a fire bender can hope to challenge me.

There was no signal to mark the beginning of the Agni Kai. It was unnecessary. Instinctively, both combatants rose to their feet and turned to face each other. Zuko opened aggressively, hurling a wave of fire at his opponent, testing her defences. The girl's counter was simple, but efficient as she pushed aside that portion of the wave that approached her, separating it into two walls that rushed harmlessly past her. Rather than launching her own attack, she held herself ready to respond to his next attack, leaving the initiative in his hands. Poor strategy.

Zuko held the distance open, switching to more focused attacks, hammering at her with precisely aimed fireballs. The girl's defence was unorthodox, meeting the fire with her own flames, bending a globe of fire into her hands, sweeping it to intercept each of his attacks, drawing their heat into her own flame and leaving them ineffectual. The fire globe grew hotter and more intense until the girl suddenly threw it aside, so heated that the stones it landed upon bubbled and melted like ice, creating for a brief moment a fire pit.

The Prince scowled behind his mask. That fireball would have destroyed him if she had struck him with it. He would have dodged it, obviously, but the fact that she didn't even try to hit him was... dismissive. As if she had no need to resort to such an attack against him. Alright then, if she wanted to play that way, Zuko decided, he would see whether she was as confident up close.

Running forwards, he kicked out, aiming for her feet with a fiery torrent. Break the root, he imagined his teachers telling him. Himself teaching Toph. Fresh rage flowed through him at the memory of his student, so much potential simply crushed out of existence by a cowardly attack. Even here, he had not found any trace of Jet or of his conspirator, 'the Boulder'. The girl stepped aside, drawing her feet away and swept her hands around, drawing the fire up and around, sending it rocketing back at Zuko's face with a cocky grin.

He blocked it sharply with his forearms and then dropped to the floor, sweeping at her legs. She jumped up above his sweep kick and he had to roll aside sharply to avoid an axe kick to his head. Her reflexes were good - if her limbs were longer he might not have been fast enough but she had to come closer to him than a grown adult would have.

Springing to his feet he launched a powerful punch towards her, fire springing into existence at his knuckles. The young fire bender - and he saw too few marks of age on her hands or feet for her to be a stunted adult - avoided the attack, but as he had expected, she did so by moving back against the shrine and he whipped his hands outward, using fire prevent her from slipping aside, thrusting his head forward as he exhaled. A tongue of fire blazed across the space between Zuko and his enemy.

There was no escape to either side, but the green-clad girl had another route in mind. Collapsing forwards onto her right shoulder, she rolled like a ball between Zuko's legs launching her own fire at his rear before kipping up to her feet. He turned and caught the attack on his right hip, snuffing it out with a slicing gesture, but the fact remained that she had been the first to land a blow. Finishing the turn, he brought his hands sweeping down and to the left, hurling scorching fire towards her skirts.

While the girl was swift enough to avoid the fire herself she was not quick enough to save the long green robe and flames caught on it, climbing towards her waist. Jumping into the air she placed her hands behind her waist and then slashed them forwards, crossing them before her. A line of fire raced around the skirt and died almost as quickly, folds of cloth falling away, thousands of threads cut away by the sudden fire, leaving the skirt to hang no lower than her knees.

Zuko didn't say anything - it was generally unwise to speak during an Agni Kai, as it might disrupt one's breathing and that practicality had hardened into tradition over the centuries - but behind his mask his lips curled. Point and counterpoint. He barely found time to congratulate himself before she ran forward and entered his reach, twisting aside from his reflexive attack and landing a kick on his left knee. Zuko grunted at the impact and snatched for her hair only for her to fold over gracefully, the raven locks flowing just outside his reach, and jab a knife-hand to the side of the same knee.

With cry of surprise, Zuko toppled sideways, barely catching himself on one hand and turning the fall into a spin. He backed up a pace favouring the injured knee as he created fire whips in each hand, flicking them back and forth to ward off attacks while he took a measure of the degree of impairment. Fortunately, although painful, the blows had only been bruising. He knew that had they been even slightly harder he could have been left with fractures to the joint.

Enough, he thought, seeing uncertainty creep into the posture of those of his soldiers he could see. None of them had expected their leader to be pressed so hard, much less to face such a challenge from a child. I have underestimated her skills, but here is an end to it. With a roar he charged forwards, hurling fire with every step, ignoring the pain that tore through his knee. His opponent backed up, not losing her balance, bending away the flames as they approached her.

She only bent them away when they came close, Zuko noted. Never did she try to meet his fire head on with her own. Despite every trick and cunning attack, she did not match strength against his strength. Unlike Azula or Lu Ten when the deigned to train against him, she could not match him directly. Which made his strategy to do exactly that.

Zuko feinted to throw more fire and then flicked his wrist, using a fire whip to destroy the orb of fire that the girl was using to deflect his attacks. She was able to recreate it almost immediately, but fire favoured the offensive and with Zuko pressuring her constantly, she had no choice but to give ground. He looked for fear in her face and saw only the emotionless mask of her make-up, distorted slightly where sweat had begun to run through it. She had been pushed back to the limit of the paving, but she would not yield to defeat.

With a hollow laugh, Zuko copied a move he had seen Azula move, raising fire in a circle around them. The flames leapt higher and higher and then he began to contract the circle, forcing her to close in towards him. She came willingly, flames dancing at her command, but he met her head on, his own fires brushing hers aside. This was what an Agni Kai should be like, the fire rushing through his veins and he cried out in exultation as she was hurled violently back against the grassy verge, through the ring of fire, her clothes smouldering.

"This is over," he declared, striding towards her. "Tell me who sent you here, and I will spare your life."

She coughed - her throat must be dry after all the heat, he realised - and brushed her forehead with the back of one hand, scraping away more of her make up. "Is that hot air I hear?" she said scornfully. "Land one hit and all of a sudden you think you're the Fire Lord Ozzy."

"That's Ozai," Zuko growled.

"Whatever," she said dismissively. "Now, are you going to get serious or shall I?" She took a stance, not one that Zuko was familiar with, something that looked more like some of Toph's stances had before he'd corrected them. Interesting, so her style had been influenced by the Earth Kingdom's. Maybe when he was done here, he should seek out whoever was corrupting the fire bending arts with such nonsense and put a stop to them.

But first, he had an opponent to deal with. Fortunately, he'd fought earth benders and he knew the weaknesses of their art. It was balanced, well suited to both offense and defence, but it was not a style that encouraged dodging - she'd just made the mistake of being too rooted. Moving quickly he charged at an angle, lashing at her with a fire whip and forcing her to turn to maintain her defence, blocking his whip with small gouts of fire but compromising her own footing to do so. Then she made a jerking move and the ground shifted suddenly below his left foot, throwing Zuko off-balance. He turned the tumble into a handstand and flipped himself upright, seeing that she had used the opportunity to dash past him towards the cliff.

Glancing at the ground where he had stumbled he saw nothing to show what had caused him to trip - the ground seemed as solid as ever. Had he imagined it? Had it been his knee that had been at fault?

The girl did a shuffling little dance and then walked over to the shrine, taking up a more proper fire bending stance. Clearly she had learnt her lesson. "Hey Chin," she said, tapping irreverently upon the shrine's wall. "Do you want to give this guy some courage? Between you, me and the audience, I think he's a bit... lacking."

With a bellow of rage Zuko charged towards her, intent upon driving her off the ridge, but this time she was waiting and caught his first fire blast, using it to parry the next two and then flinging it into the roof of the shrine, which erupted in flames. A second later and she darted behind the cover of the little building. Zuko rounded the corner to see her vanish behind the next, one step ahead of his fire blast. Infuriated, he ran after her, ignoring the peasants scattering up the slope and away from the duel, his soldiers distracted and unable to stop all of the sudden rush. Two of the red-armoured men were tumbled to the ground in the rush.

The next corner and he saw only a corner of her skirt vanish from view, the fourth and not even that. A cry from one of the soldiers caught his attention and he looked at the man, then at where the soldier was pointing. Standing barefoot upon the stone wall of the ruined shrine was the girl, raising the fires from the roof into a single mass that she held between her hands. For a single shocked moment, Zuko failed to react and then she lobbed the entire mass - not at him, but at two of the Komodo Dragons.

"This isn't all we have at the circus!" she catcalled to the soldier suddenly dragged off his feet as panic spread among the animals. The fireball had diminished almost visibly after it left her hands but it had been enough to scorch the massive beast's faces and they were bellowing fit to burst. "Why don't you play with the wild animals!" Then she dropped over the shrine on the opposite side from Zuko.

He shouted in fury, ignoring the disturbance behind him and smashed one fist, wrapped in fire, against the stone structure, smashing it apart, hurling the bricks across half the plaza. Panting deeply he stared across the stones for a sign of his enemy. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing...

"I'll give you points for that," she said, kipping up from behind the stone stump that was all that remained of the shrine to Chin the Conqueror. "I'm _almost_ impressed."

So furious that for a brief moment he couldn't even concentrate enough to bend, Zuko nearly messed her hand whipping around, a ball of fire inside it that hurtled towards his face. Barely in time he managed to snuff the fire out - which did nothing at all to the chuck of brick about the size of the girl's fist that had been inside the fireball and smashed into his mask. With a howl of pain he tumbled backwards, his hands flying to his face.

The mask had absorbed some of the impact, but it was still brain-rattling and the prince staggered drunkenly as he fought to stay upright. The first touch revealed that the mask was shattered and he hastily yanked at the straps holding it to his face.

"You've got a tough face," the little girl's voice lilted as he discarded the mask. "Did you just peel it off... oh, it was a mask." She sounded slightly disappointed.

Red rage struggled against the fuzziness of Zuko's mind. She's trying to make me angry, he realised. Using it against me.

With an unbelievable effort he brought his breathing back under control and took up his stance again. Despite the ringing in his ears, he could see her there, standing ready to parry his fire. So sorry, kid. You're not going to be brushing this aside, he thought, moving his arms as the chi began to flow through them. With a snapping sound, the first sparks began to flash around his hands. The young girl frowned turning reduce her profile, apparently unsure of what he was doing.

That's right, just stand there and wait for it, he thought. He hadn't used the move since Omashu. Frankly, he hadn't wanted to risk trying it when his anger was so great. But now, forcing all that away, he felt it again. The thrill of the lightning forming between his hands. "You want my anger?" he demanded. "Have it!"

"Dodge!" came a horrified shout from somewhere up the slope but the lightning was already in motion.

He'd already known that the girl's reflexes were cat like, but Zuko was beyond impressed that she managed to dodge fast enough that the bolt of lightning smashed not into her fourth chakra, over the heart, but the third, behind the solar plexus. Not that it made any difference in the short term: the small fire bender was smashed off her feet, hurled two dozen yards across the amphitheatre to crash into one of the stone seats.

She lay very still.

Zuko had just enough time to realise why the warning shout had sounded like someone he knew when the same voice gasped: "Toph!" and a impact to his left temple sent him tumbling into the blackness.


	7. Chapter Six

Mai didn't wait for the fire bender to hit the paving slabs courtesy of her thrown fan before she was racing down the amphitheatre towards Toph's fallen form.

The soldiers, distracted by ten rampaging komodo rhinos and the fleeing women and children, had actually fallen prey to the Kyoshi Warriors with startling ease. In fact, they probably hadn't even noticed that they were under attack until Mai's desperate cry of warning to Toph, by which time eight of them were already down - a pair of them literally trampled by fleeing women and children, two of them recipients Mai's knives, Shu-lin throwing one unfortunate off the cliff, two flat on the ground with concussions thanks to June and one crushed between the two komodo rhinos he was trying to control.

As she ran, Mai unloaded a full salvo from her dart launcher into a fire bender trying to block what looked to him like an attempt to finish off the prince, and then spun her remaining fan into one of a pair of soldiers who was fighting off Shu-lin entirely too close to where Mai's sister lay. Now faced with only one opponent, the Kyoshi Warrior smoothly cut him down with her sword and then moved to aid Jun.

Scrambling down to Toph, she rolled the small girl over onto her back, flinching as she saw the terrible burn scorched through both the armour and the robes. The metal plates had been almost vaporised over the wound and blackened cloth and flesh were literally smoking before her eyes. Fearfully Mai pressed her fingertips against Toph's throat and was relieved to feel a pulse - weak, slower than she would like, but Toph's heart was still beating. When she looked closely she thought she could see a slight movement of the younger girl's chest.

Pulling out three of her throwing knives, Mai rose and stalked over to the man who had hurled lightning into her little sister. Another fire bender made the mistake of trying to stop her and fell to the ground, one of the knives buried in his throat. Reaching her target, Mai kicked the stunned man over onto his back and had drawn back her hand to finish him off when the light flickered giving her a clearer view of his face. Her eyes went wide and the two throwing knives slipped from suddenly nerveless fingers.

"A little help here, Mai!" called June from where she was holding off three of the remaining fire benders from the back of a komodo rhino. One of them had already managed to catch her with a small bolt of fire, marked by the flames still rising from her sleeve.

Mai straightened and without turning her head fired one of her remaining dart launchers three times. One of the soldiers crumpled with a scream, clutching at his knee where a dart had punctured the thinner protection behind the joint. A second simply fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the tail-feathers of a dart barely visible where it had buried itself in the armpit. June's eyes crossed as she tried to track the third dart, which passed within a few inches of her face... and punched between the open lips of the third fire bender.

"Scary girl," the one time bounty hunter sighed, kicking the one survivor of the three in the face to ensure he stayed down. Then she looked around for the next opponent, casually beating out the flames now that she had a free hand.

Down in the amphitheatre, Mai came to a decision and used the front of Zuko's shirt to pull his shoulders up from the stones. His eyes opened blearily and failed to focus upon her squarely. "Mai?" he muttered.

"Jerk," she replied tersely and punched him across the jaw with the heel of her free hand. The prince's head bounced off the ground and he lay still.

Shu-lin dove under a stream of fire and thrust upwards with her sword into the fire bender before rolling to her feet. Suddenly the three Kyoshi Warriors were the only ones still standing. June and Shu-lin converged upon their leader's position.

"How's the runt?" June asked bluntly.

"Alive," Mai reported bluntly. "Your arm?"

"Nothing to worry about," the older woman insisted.

Mai looked around at the wreckage. "We need to tidy this up. Shu-lin drove off the komodo rhinos. June, throw the enemy soldiers off the cliff. The tide will dispose of them."

"What about the wounded?"

Mai stared at her blankly.

"Right." June reached for Zuko but Mai shook her head.

"Not this one. We're taking him with us."

"You know him?" Shu-lin asked. "And since when was Toph a fire bender?"

"I'll tell you on the boat," decided Mai and headed back towards Toph.

.oOo.

Getting down the cliff with an unconscious Toph and Zuko proved to be complicated. In the end it proved necessary to improvise a sling and lower them one at a time directly over the cliff with Shu-lin climbing down alongside Toph to ensure she didn't come to harm. They weren't quite as careful with Zuko since his injuries weren't as likely to be aggravated and frankly, none of them were particularly bothered about adding more bruises to his collection.

"So," Shu-lin asked as June pushed the canoe off from the shore. "Explanations?"

Mai didn't look up from her paddling. "His name is Zuko. After Toph discovered she was a fire bender, he was her teacher for a little while."

The other two looked at each other. "A little more detail could help," suggested June. "I've seen Toph Earth bending. She's never been... all that great, honestly. And now she's fire bending as well?"

Shu-lin was practically glowing as she paddled. "She's the Avatar, isn't she? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Mai made a frustrated noise. "She was attacked by her parents." She ignored the hiss from Shu-lin. "They didn't want their blind little girl to be a bender, so they had someone do something to her. I don't know the details, but something to do with her chi. You've seen her bending... that's as much as she can do."

June was the one to put it together. "The Fire Nation's been looking for the next Avatar ever since the Battle of the Three Dragons. Right now, they know she must only be a child. If they find out she's blind, that she only has a limited ability to bend... they'll know that they don't have to fear her any more. And morale in the Earth Kingdom would collapse: they've been hoping for a powerful, aggressive Avatar to lead them against the Fire Nation."

"You said 'her parents'," Shu-lin said slowly. "Not 'our parents'. You aren't her sister, are you?"

"After she was... hurt, she ran away," Mai said carefully, "My parents took her in. She didn't tell anyone she was an earth bender and everyone was thrilled that she was a fire bender."

"So you're from the Fire Nation." There was an ugly undertone to June's conclusion. Both of the other Kyoshi Warriors had their issues, Mai knew. Shu-lin's were with parents, but June's were with the Fire Nation. "Why would one of them choose to throw in her lot with the Avatar?"

"She's my sister," Mai said. "Blood doesn't matter. Women are expected to join other families and be as loyal to them as they were to their parents. Marriage, or adoption, it doesn't matter. Would you abandon a sister?"

June clenched her fist, but Shu-lin stopped paddling for a moment. "Kyoshi Warriors do not leave their sisters behind," she reminded the other woman. "Would you have left Toph and I after she challenged him to that duel?"

"...no," June admitted grudgingly. She looked down at Zuko. "What about this one? He'd be a very ugly sister. Why spare him? He already almost killed Toph. When he finds out she's the Avatar..."

Mai shrugged, feigning indifference. "He's important within the Fire Nation. Too important to just vanish without anyone looking for him. Suki's going to need to decide what happens to him."

"Does she know?" asked Shu-lin. "About Toph, I mean?"

"I haven't told her. But I'm sure she suspects something."

They paddled in silence the rest of the way.

.oOo.

She could feel the cold stone beneath her feet, but it seemed cold and dead, no vibrations to tell her anything more than what she was touching. Cold terror seemed to paralyse her. Had her earthsense deserted her completely?

Toph felt a small hand touch hers.

"Hello Toph. I've been looking forward to meeting you." A boy's voice, young, from in front of her.

The smack of her fist touching flesh was startling and her hand was empty once more. "Who are you!? What have you done to me!?"

"Ow!" Indignance more than pain. "You didn't have to hit me!"

She could hear him, she knew his approximate location and sank into an earth bending stance. "Answers!"

"I didn't do anything!" the boy protested quickly. "You're in the spirit world, no one can bend here."

Whatever she'd expected, this wasn't it. "I'm... dead?"

There was the pad of light feet on stone and she could hear his breathing, closer now. Not quite in arm's reach. He feared her. Good.

"Not quite. It could still go either way." He sighed. "There's someone who wants to speak to you. Come with me?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Toph retorted automatically. "Not with someone I don't know, who just sneaks up on me."

"Really I'm a friend," the boy promised. There was a whoof of air from his direction and Toph heard heavier footsteps, far too heavy to be a person and... six legs? Sounded like whatever it was must be as large as a badger mole, perhaps larger. "And this is Appa. He's a friend too, aren't you boy?" There was an agreeable rumble from the animal.

"I've not been having the best of luck with friends lately," Toph pointed out warily. "In case you didn't notice, the reason I'm here is that my former fire bending teacher decided to hit me with some freaky attack."

The boy hesitated. "You realise that he didn't know who you were?"

"I guessed when he didn't realise I was a fire bender," Toph shrugged. "I guess all that face painting must really work after all."

"It really does," he agreed cheerfully. "So, come on. Your spirit guide awaits."

Toph glared. "_You're_ my spirit guide?"

"Well, no. She sent me to bring you to her..."

"So you're what? The hired help?" Toph asked incredulously. How gullible did he think she was? For all she could tell he might be about to feed her to that big Appa of his. He hadn't even told her his name!

"No, I'm Aang!"

Okay, now he'd told her his name. Wait... Aang? "Eew! I knew that Bumi guy was creepy, but having fun with a little boy? That's just sick."

"You know Bumi?" Aang sounded surprised. "Wait, what do you mean sick. He's a great guy. We used to play on the mail slides when he was a kid."

"When he was a kid?" exclaimed Toph. "But he's ancient and you're like, eight or something."

"I'm a hundred and twelve!"

"Months, maybe."

Aang groaned in frustration. "I'm dead, alright? People stop getting older when they die. I was only twelve when I died. Bumi's been alive the whole time, that's why he looks older than me." He took her hand again and started pulling at her again, but couldn't shift her from her stance.

"Listen, lightweight, no one takes me anywhere I don't want to. Bumi says hi, he misses all the fun, now buzz off."

"Oh really?" There was a mischievous sound to Aang's voice. "Appa, give me a hand here, buddy." The big creature mooed accommodatingly and Toph braced herself, for all the good it did when several tons of herbivore butted her gently but firmly off her feet. Grabbing blindly for something - anything - to break her hold, Toph latched onto something long and smooth, only to be lifted clean off the ground when it moved upwards.

"Good work, boy," Aang said cheerfully. "Now, yip yip!"

There was a whoof of air and Toph screamed in mingled fear and indignation as her stomach advised her that she was being lifted higher and higher off the ground, dangling from the horn of the sky bison as it ascended into the air.

.oOo.

Suki was waiting at the dock when the canoe arrived. After months of practise Mai could make out the emotions beneath the mask of war paint and she could tell the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was concerned by the fact that only three figures were visible above the gunwales of the boat. "What happened?" she asked immediately, catching hold of the rope that Mai threw her from the bow.

"Toph is injured, and we have a prisoner," Mai said, indicating the two prone forms lying in the bottom of the canoe. "Chin Village has been destroyed. The women and children were fleeing the area, last that we saw of them. They only saw Toph and other than this one, all the Fire Nation soldiers are dead."

"Shu-lin, go fetch a healer," Suki ordered quickly. "June, take the prisoner and secure him. Don't do anything to him until I hear Mai's report. Is he a bender?" When she heard confirmation she nodded firmly. "If necessary, ask the healers for a sleeping draft. Better he doesn't wake up until I make a decision on what to do with him."

The other two Kyoshi Warriors climbed onto the jetty, June carrying Zuko over her shoulder. Suki looked down at Toph and shook her head. "I shouldn't have let you take her with you."

Mai said nothing, instead lifting her sister gently up so that Suki could take her. Beneath her make-up Suki paled at the wound. Toph seemed to weigh almost nothing and her breathing was so faint that only a slight warmth to her body showed she was still alive. "I know, you know. That she's the Avatar." There was still no response from Mai as the girl jumped up onto the jetty. "Who did this?"

Toph's sister pointed to where Jun was barely visible in the distance.

"If she dies, he dies," Suki swore. "What sort of monster would do this to a child?"

"She'd be offended to be called a child," Mai said, her voice betraying uncertainty as to what she should feel about the matter. "Toph challenged him to a duel. I don't know why he accepted."

Suki shrugged and started towards the shore, careful not to shake Toph around. "I meant what I said there," she added flatly. "I don't care how valuable he might turn out to be..."

"He's the Fire Lord's son."

"He's the wha-!?" Suki half-screamed, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "What do you mean he's the Fire Lord's son?"

"I mean that Ozai is his father. What else would I mean?"

"Are you sure?" asked Suki, nervously. First the Avatar, and now a Prince of the Fire Nation? What next, the Earth King arriving on a dancing bear?

"Pretty much," Mai said. "I lied about being a merchant's daughter. My family is an old one in the Fire Nation. I went to school with Zuko's sister, so I saw him every now and then."

If Suki hadn't been carrying Toph she would have slapped Mai, so she did the logical thing. As soon as she put Toph down on the grass at the end of the jetty, she cracked a backhanded blow across the taller girl's face, knocking her from her feet.

"I probably deserved that," Mai conceded numbly, sitting up.

"So what's Toph's story? Your father's by-blow?" Suki asked angrily. "Is she even your sister at all?"

"Toph's a runaway," Mai said quietly. "Family means more than blood in the Fire Nation. When my parents took her in, she became my sister in every way that matters. When my brother was abducted, Toph risked her own life to save him. When I learnt she was the Avatar, I left my parents to protect her from the Fire Nation. I've given up everything else in my life, even..." She shook her head. "Don't ever say she isn't my sister."

Suki stared down at her. "I should probably lock you away with your fire bender friend," she said at last. "For the Avatar's sake, I won't do that. But if you ever give me even the slightest reason to doubt you again, one deception... I'll think of a way to explain your death to her."

.oOo.

"Here we are!" Aang announced happily as Appa's feet touched the ground.

"Great," Toph grumbled and let go of the horn, landing lightly on dusty stones that felt somewhat like a path to her feet. Feeling the sky bison whuffle against her, she used her hands to feel her way across his face and then grabbed the huge beast by the nostrils and tugged downwards. "Don't ever do that again!" she roared at the top of her voice.

Appa squealed and tried to back away from the crazy small person. When that didn't work, he opened his mouth and blew, trying to dislodge her but he had to stop when she refused and the pulling on his sensitive nose grew too painful.

"Leave him alone!" Aang protested, running around and grabbing Toph's ankles, trying to pull her away. As she was still refusing to release Appa, this let to a bellow of protest from the unfortunate sky bison. "Let go!"

"You let go!"

Another bellow from Appa was followed by a bucketful of water descending upon them all. "You can play later, children," a new voice declared. Older, female. Not an accent that Toph recognised. Aang obediently dropped her ankles.

"Who are you?" the young earth bender demanded, not letting go yet.

"She's your spirit guide," Aang hissed.

"So why did you send muppet here to come get me?" Toph asked, letting go of Appa, who prudently backed away. She felt Aang brush past her as he rushed to comfort his companion.

"I had several reasons, Toph," the woman said in a grandmotherly tone. "Come, sit with me."

Grudgingly, Toph obeyed. But only because she wanted to anyway!

"Unlike my two predecessors, I do not have a spirit companion to carry me across the world," the old woman told her. "And I felt that you might prefer to be met by someone your age, rather than by a lady of a certain age."

"You aren't old, Kanna," a man's voice said from nearby. "Not compared to Kyoshi, anyway."

"Don't you have anywhere to be, Roku?" the woman's voice - Kanna, presumably - asked pointedly.

Toph jumped to her feet. "You're... you're Avatars!" she burst out, backing away. "What do you want with me?"

She heard the man approach and then he paused and she heard his robes rustling on the ground. He's... kneeling? What? "For myself, Toph, all I wish to do is to apologise on behalf of my great-grandson."

"Who?" she blurted.

"My grand-daughter is wed to the Fire Lord Ozai," Roku explained. "Therefore Zuko is my descendant."

Toph shrugged. "You aren't to blame for what he did," she said reasonably. "If you're responsible for what he did then I'd be responsible for what my - yeah. Never mind."

"You are not to blame for your parents' actions."

"Well if you know that, then what are you bringing it up for?" Toph asked.

Roku chuckled and then she could hear his robes brushing around his knees as Kanna cleared her throat. "Yes Kanna, I'm done now," he promised.

"I'm sure you have many questions," Kanna said gently to Toph. "I asked Aang to bring you here so that I can answer them."

Toph sat down cautiously. "You're the one with the plan, why don't you start."

"Very well then. You are the Avatar, Toph. Roku, myself and even Aang are your past - just a few of the thousands of lives that you have lived, protecting the balance between the four elements, and between the mortal world and this one. And you have never been more badly needed. The Fire Nation is badly out of control. Unless they are checked they will use the power granted by Sozin's Comet to catastrophically destroy all balance between the elements. I know that it is not fair for you to carry that burden so young, but I believe that you can restore the balance."

Toph shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. I mean, I know the history - Sozin destroyed the Air Nomads, but the world didn't collapse because of that. It's not as if all the air vanished when the Air Nomads were wiped out. I don't want the Fire Nation to conquer everyone, but it's not going to destroy the world."

"In that you are wrong," Kanna said quietly. "The Fire Lords' ambitions know no bounds. When they struck at the Northern Water Tribes, they not only destroyed the civilisation there, they also attempted to kill the spirits Tui and La, the Ocean and the Moon. The consequences had they succeeded would have been disastrous for all concerned. It was only with a great deal of luck that I was able to save them and to spirit away a few survivors to a refuge near the South Pole." She chuckled drily. "That was a joke: 'spirit away'?"

"Yeah, keep trying."

"For much of my life," Kanna continued, "I devoted my attention to repairing the damage caused by the Fire Nation. I did not confront them directly - perhaps I was influenced too greatly by the customs of my own people, who believed that women should use water bending only to heal. I found the more confrontational ways of earth bending very difficult to learn and fire even harder. By the time I was ready to study air bending, the Air Nomads had been extinct for almost half a century. Because of this, the Fire Lords have been free to ravage the world for generations. When I finally challenged them, twelve years ago, I was too late. Too weak."

"And now you are the Avatar. Unlike myself and Aang, you have a warrior spirit, Toph. Indomitable, irresistible. The world needs you to do what we could not."

Toph shook her head. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in fighting form."

"You did very well against Roku's descendant," observed Kanna.

"I lost. That's not good enough," Toph told her. "Unless you have any ideas how to repair the damage to my chakras I won't be making the Fire Lord Ozai tremble in his pointy boots."

.oOo.

Mai stared down at Zuko. The prince had been stripped of his finery and chained to a wall in one of the few stone buildings of the village. He had been kept sedated for several days, but the healers had warned that continuing doses would be damaging and so Suki had decided to allow him to wake. In case he tried to break loose - and not only Suki but also several islanders familiar with bending had questioned Mai intensively on his capabilities - two Kyoshi Warriors were assigned to guard him at all times.

She had not been trusted with that responsibility. Mai had barely left Toph's side, sleeping on a mat in the same room where healers kept the younger girl under constant supervision. Toph had not woken in all that time, slipping into a coma. None of the healers had been tactless enough to comment within Mai's hearing on the likelihood of Toph never waking, but Suki had relayed their estimations with brutal honesty.

"Stop brooding about Toph," Suki ordered. Zuko was expected to wake at some point that afternoon and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors intended to interrogate him immediately, so she was waiting in the same building, taking the opportunity to read reports from the various detachments around the island. "I know what the healers say; but I've sent word to some allies of ours. They have excellent healers and I'm sure that they'll send someone able to help her."

Mai hmmed noncommittally and looked away. She would feel better if Suki was willing to tell her who these allies were, but she supposed that it was too late to look for trust between the two of them. After a moment she looked again at Zuko. Stubble was visible across his head but the locks that had been part of his topknot were still obvious in contrast. Mai could not think what he had been thinking to start wearing his hair in that ridiculous fashion.

Because she was looking at him, she was the first to see his eyelids flickering. "He's waking up," she warned and stepped back, allowing the two guards to stand ready with a clear field of view towards Zuko.

Nonetheless, when his eyes opened they focused almost immediately upon her. Emotions raced across his face: shock, followed by joy and then bitter anger. Mai felt her own face stiffen into immobility in response. Carefully, testing his limits, Zuko shifted to a sitting position, grimacing when he realised that the chains were too short for him to be able to stand. Slowly, he looked around the room, measuring all four of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"So you have me prisoner," he concluded. "What now? You must realise that you have a dragon by the tail, safe only as long as you can hold on." He took a deep breath, centring himself and then caught Mai's eye. "Perhaps not even then."

"I've given serious thought to killing you," Suki admitted candidly. "You are Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, or so I'm told. I've heard a great deal about your recent activities on the mainland. Most of it does not lead me to believe that your death would be a tragedy."

"I thought I heard _someone_ call Toph's name," Zuko noted, "Just before I was knocked out. Is she alive too?"

There was a deadly silence.

"Thus far. No thanks to you," answered Suki.

"Wha-" Horrified realisation crossed Zuko's face. "That was her? Damn you Mai, it wasn't enough that you'd betray m- your people, you dragged her into it. You let me fight her?"

"Let?" Mai asked, coldly. Mockingly. Was this the Zuko she thought she knew? "You don't know Toph as well as you think, _your highness_."

"You should know," Suki added, taking the advantage of Zuko's consternation, "That if Toph does die of her wounds I'll be burying you next to her." Her smile was horrible. "If I'm feeling merciful, maybe I'll kill you first."

Zuko looked at her in surprise and then nodded his head slowly. "In that case, I offer my services as a healer." His lips curled. "I certainly have ample motivation to want her to survive... and I'm a fire bender. Treating burns is something I'm used to."

Suki shook her head. "We'll see. For now, I have some questions for you."


	8. Chapter Seven

"What do you mean my cousin is missing?" Lu Ten demanded.

Zhao chuckled and poured himself another cup of tea. "Exactly what I said. Prince Zuko is missing, presumed... well. Missing. He and his entire force disappeared almost without a trace."

Lu Ten reached over and forced the cup away from Zhao's lips. "Don't play games with me, Admiral. I can read your face like a scroll. You have more information and I suggest that you share it before I decide that your withholding it is an indication of complicity."

"Well, since you're asking so nicely." Zhao relinquished the cup. "Patrols sent out to find Prince Zuko did find some of the komodo rhinos that his soldiers had been mounted upon. They were roaming loose near the coast. The nearest village, some pathetic hamlet whose name I forget, had been burnt almost to the ground and there was some evidence that two fire benders had duelled." He smiled. "I have ordered my men to report any other information, but at this time... we must consider the possibility that your cousin is dead."

"An Agni Kai. Interesting," Lu Ten observed. If that was so then Zuko might well have been killed, but it was far more likely to be the result of factional conflict within the Fire Nation than that a fire bender would side with the Earth Kingdom. And while Zuko's skills were not on par with Lu Ten's, he was nonetheless among the most powerful fire benders alive and escorted, at last report, by a score of elite soldiers.

The most likely explanation was that Zuko had been eliminated as part of a move against either Lu Ten or Azula. While the young prince had not committed to either of them, his death would sow suspicion between them and if evidence were to appear painting one or the other as responsible then the Fire Lord would almost have to take action.

And Admiral Zhao was almost certainly aligned with Azula. How truly good, Lu Ten thought drily. Any evidence that turned up would be used to her advantage, not his. Well, there was more than one way to handle that.

"When you're done with your tea, Admiral," he ordered. "Detach a squadron and take control of the southern region again. Turn every rock you have to in order to find my cousin, or his resting place. And that includes shaking down any remnants of the Water Tribes you can find. If there's any resurgence of opposition on either side of the Southern Ocean I want you to stamp it out."

Zhao's smile grew feral. Lu Ten knew that the Admiral had cut his teeth in the fighting against the Northern Water Tribe and had campaigned vigorously for increased raiding against what little remained of the Southern Tribe. Up until now, however, the Earth Kingdom had been the priority.

"In your absence, those elements of the Southern Fleet still in the lakes will answer to me," Lu Ten added casually. The addition would place more than half of the Fire Nation's Navy under his direct control, strengthening his own position.

The Admiral's eyes narrowed at that addition but the reasoning made sense: he couldn't pull most of his ships away from their places blockading the lakes without undermining the overall strategy for Ba Sing Se, something that would cost him his rank, if not his head. And it was nonsensical to think that he could direct operations here while he was in the Southern Waters.

"Of course, your highness," he agreed. "I'm surprised that you don't want to handle the matter yourself."

"Tempting," admitted Lu Ten. "But I've spent my whole career with the Northern Fleet, whereas you know the area. No, it's best overall for you to handle this. And you'll certainly seem more action down there than you'll find here."

Zhao laughed sharply. That was true, the Earth Kingdom had made no more than token efforts to contest the inland lakes that cut the continent in half. "Of course. I will find your cousin, if I have to depopulate the whole South Pole to do it."

Both men had already written Zuko off as dead.

.oOo.

The spirit world, in Toph's opinion, was very boring.

"What's taking so long?" she wondered out loud to Aang, who was trying to walk her through the basics of air bending. It was proving challenging for both of them, since without her earthsense Toph simply couldn't tell what he was doing unless he was literally pressed against her and she thumped him soundly any time he tried to manhandle her into position. Treating her like a doll was simply not acceptable. "Surely I should have either died or recovered."

"I don't know," the youthful Avatar admitted. "If the lightning had struck any one of the other chakras, you would have died almost instantly: the third chakra is the only one that can survive a strike by that much chi. If you'd been struck anywhere other than a chakra, the lightning would have grounded itself through you - again, probably fatally since that would tend to take it through the fourth chakra, your heart. You need to move more lightly on your feet. Stop putting your heels down."

"That puts me off balance," Toph protested, but she obediently rose up slightly, balancing on the balls of her feet. "So I got hit the one place that wouldn't kill me. What's the problem?"

Aang hesitated before replying. "Well I only know the theory - Lightning is one of the most difficult forms of the fire bending arts and I never met anyone who had mastered it," he qualified. "But from what I understand, once the lightning was there, you could have redirected it out of you safely."

"It sounds like water bending," Toph said, walking - mincing almost - through the kata that Aang was trying to instruct her in. It didn't actually involve bending air, since she couldn't learn that in the spirit world, but he seemed to think that her defence could use the help.

"You'd probably know more about that than I would," admitted Aang. "I never learnt how to water bend. I barely mastered air bending before I left the temple. I don't think you've quite got it. You're too stiff. Stay flexible, ready to move away before you're struck."

"You must be wrong anyway, I never got any chance to redirect anything. The lightning fire hit me and -" she clapped her hands sharply "- I'm in the Spirit World with you sneaking up on me."

"I was not. And you didn't have to hit me."

"Hah. Ask anyone who knows me and they'd tell you that you were just asking to get pounded, sneaking up on me. I bet that's why Kanna sent you instead of coming for me herself."

Aang sounded dismayed: "She wouldn't do that!"

"Are you sure?" Toph grinned, knowing that she'd gotten under his skin. "You got set up, and you didn't suspect a thing."

"You're wrong!"

Toph blew a raspberry. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's some nice girl here who'll cosset your delicate ego. Some girls like gullible boys. Don't ask me why."

"You're wrong," Aang said sadly.

"I'm more of an authority figure on girls than you are, twinkle toes."

"Not that." She heard Aang turn away. "There aren't any girls in the Spirit World. Normal people are only here long enough to be reincarnated. Only the past lives of the Avatars are here for long and none of them are anything close to my age. And most of them don't want anything to do with me."

Toph judged by the sound of his voice where he was and stepped closer, leaning over him, both hands on his shoulders. "Why not? You're a bit annoying sometimes, but you aren't a bad guy."

"Because it's all my fault," Aang said softly. "I ran away and let the Fire Nation do whatever they wanted. I didn't have the courage to do my duty. Roku and Kanna are the only Avatars who'll have anything to do with me." He sounded on the brink of tears.

Toph frowned and then smacked him across the head. "You're a hundred and twelve years old," she reminded him. "Grow up!"

"Ow!"

"Do you think any of them would have done any better? I know people who worship Kyoshi's sandals but I'll bet you she made as many mistakes as a kid as any of us. But she didn't get handed the world on a handbasket and told to make it right when she was twelve years old! Sure, she kicked Chin the Conqueror's butt - when she'd had years to learn and prepare! If you'd stayed where you were, the Fire Nation would have been there long before you'd learnt anything more than you know now. You'd have been just another dead air bender!"

"But -!"

Toph squeezed him, careful not to crush his carotid or air pipe (assuming that she could do so at all in the spirit world, which she didn't particularly care to find out). "You just remember this: most of them have been here hundreds of years. In all that time, you think no one's come up with any new ideas? You probably know moves none of them have even heard of, or is that master's tattoo on your head just a decoration?"

"I guess... maybe..."

"And let's face it. It isn't gonna be more than a couple of centuries, tops, before I'm here full time. I'm counting on you to whip them into shape so I have an actual challenge."

.oOo.

In the end it was agreed that Zuko would be allowed to advise in Toph's treatment. Rather than release him however, Toph was carried to the same building and placed in the same room. Suki also doubled the guards, just in case Zuko decided sacrifice his life in order to kill the girl he still - as far as they could tell - did not know was the Avatar.

Zuko paid the guards as little attention as he would the servants of the Royal Palace back in the Fire Nation, directing Mai as she ground up leaves for an aloe that Zuko thought might help with the burn. He himself admitted though that the direct damage caused by the lightning was a secondary problem at this state. Toph's body was slowly starving despite the thin broth that the healers were feeding her on. His best guess was that the damage to the chakra was impeding her ability to digest the food.

"Why did she challenge me?" Zuko asked quietly. "She had to know she wasn't going to beat me. She's brilliant - I don't deny it - but she could never muster a knockout blow against me."

"I don't know," Mai replied, not looking up from the mortar and pestle.

"How can you not know?" he protested. "You were -"

"We'd split up," Mai cut him off. "Her orders... my orders... were to watch. Or listen, in her case. To find out if you were a threat and to report. Not to take you on in some crazy duel."

Zuko glared at the back of her head. "You're the one who said you know her better than I do, guess!"

Mai paused in her grinding. "Maybe she thought you were being such a jerk that you needed your head rattled," she said venomously. "Suki was quite thorough in going through all the towns you've burnt since we last met."

The prince's face paled in anger. "If you're going to lay blame, maybe you should remember that I thought I was avenging _you_!"

"Well don't I feel special."

"Do you have any idea how much it hurt your parents to lose you? To lose Toph?" Zuko demanded.

Mai snorted derisively. "My parents have Tom-Tom, the son they always wanted. One surplus daughter and an adoptee will be forgotten quickly enough."

"Funny, that's not the way it looked to me." He looked at her hands. "Is there some reason you stopped working?"

She started grinding again, imagining that it was his face.

"You saw what your mother was like when Tom-Tom went missing. Well she was ten times worse when I came back without the two of you. Your father had half the garrison digging through the hill - if he could have found an Earth bender he could trust he'd have had them there as well. When we didn't find any trace of you..."

"Shut up."

"...she locked herself in her room for days. Your dad was trying to hold himself together for Tom-Tom, but I could see his heart break every time your brother asked where you were. He'd stay up late, reading reports of what guerrillas did to captive Fire Soldiers. Praying that you'd died cleanly, that Jet hadn't got his hands on you..."

"Shut _up_!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Zuko roared, eyes blazing. The two nearest guards, who had been trying to pretend that they weren't listening, wheeled as he pulled against his chains. "You tore the heart out of your own family for no reason that you're willing to tell anyone! Your father told me that you went up that hill because your first loyalty as a fire maiden was to your family, and then you spat on that and wa-"

There was a sharp crack.

"I left to save my sister's _life_," Mai told him, arm still poised from the slap. "From _you_."

She stalked out of the room, leaving Zuko staring at her in mute incomprehension, fighting back the impulse to demand to know why she thought he would kill Toph. Exhibit One was in the same room, after all.

"Wow, you Fire Nation guys are so smooth," one of the guards observed sarcastically. "I'm amazed you ever manage to have children."

.oOo.

"Oyaji, I hope your allies haven't abandoned us," Suki told the old man as they stood outside the shrine. "The healers are uncertain how long Toph will last."

"Do not fear," Oyaji assured her. "They are distant from us, and it will naturally take some time for them to receive the news. I am certain that they will send us all the aid they can, however. I made it very clear that time is of the essence."

Suki nodded reluctantly. "It's hard to wait," she admitted. "Not being able to do anything..."

"You are doing something," the old man pointed out. "You're fretting. Everyone can tell that you are gravely concerned about Toph."

"Not just her. The fire bender as well," admitted the young woman. "What should I do with him? Sooner or later, someone is going to come looking for him. As soon as they speak to one of the Chin Villagers, they will realise that we must be involved somehow."

Oyaji nodded. "That is a problem. Can you simply release him?"

"I don't think that that will protect us." She snorted. "We've injured the most sensitive part of him, his pride. I fear he is the sort of man who would raise an army to take revenge upon us for the indignity of being a prisoner, even briefly."

"Ah. Well, that leaves the other alternative."

Suki grimaced. "We'll have to ensure that no one ever finds him. The Fire Nation don't believe in much that I can think of, but I'm sure that the Fire Lord would take a horrible revenge for the death of his son, just out of principle."

"And if the Avatar lives, as we all hope that she will?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "You are not the only one who has spoken to your friend Mai. And don't deny that she is your friend. Only one close to your heart could have injured it so deeply with a lie. I have no doubt that you - or she - could end Zuko's life while caught in the rage of grief. But to kill him, in cold blood? Harder. Much harder, even were I sure what Toph's reaction would be."

"Don't underestimate any of us on that score," Suki told him. "Do you know what Mai's criteria was for her team when they set off? Killers. Her, June, Shu-lin and even Toph. I don't think that it would be as hard as you imagine."

Oyaji's shoulders hunched in upon him, aware of the true question. "I know little of June, but it does not surprise me. Shu-lin... there are often suspicions when a fisherman known to drink more heavily than is wise suffers an accident at sea. If it is true, then perhaps her father's neighbours chose not to see other reasons for the occasion. Mai... well, you have told me what she reported and I did not see you disagree with her decisions there."

Suki nodded reluctantly and turned to look back at the shrine. "And Toph."

"Suki, remember that Kyoshi did not hesitate to kill Chin the Conqueror and she was far from the first Avatar to stain her hands in performance of her duties. It saddens me to hear than a child of Toph's age has shed blood, but I am not truly surprised." He shook his head. "You think that you understand what the war is like, but in your heart you do not. For Toph to have survived on her own is remarkable. To have survived and remained entirely innocent would have been a miracle."

"I suppose you're right," Suki admitted.

They watched the sun setting for a moment and then Suki squinted. "That's a funny shaped bird," she noted, pointing to the south-west. "Have you ever seen one like that?"

The old man squinted. "I'm not quite sure I see... Wait, yes I have." He clapped Suki on the shoulder. "That's no bird, it's our help arriving. Have the cooks drug Prince Zuko's food again - we don't want him learning that our allies even exist, much less any details. Once he's out, bring Toph here."

Suki stared at him, half convinced that he was losing his mind.

"Stop dawdling," Oyaji demanded and ran into the shrine, leaving Suki little alternative but to shrug and obey.

.oOo.

"Toph," called Kanna. "It's time for you to go."

Toph sat up from where she was lying on the bank of a stream, her bare feet dangling in the water. "Finally. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get out of this dump," she said, waving one hand to indicate what Kanna personally considered to be a rather idyllic scene.

"I'm sure Aang will miss having you here," she told the girl encouragingly.

"I'm sure he won't miss the bruises," Toph snickered, springing to her feet. "So, what tells you that my visit is over?"

Kanna shook her head, knowing that the incorrigible girl would guess at the gesture. "A healer has arrived on Kyoshi Island to treat you," she answered. "It's best that you return to your body now, so that you are there to awaken. If they try to force you to wake when your spirit is not present, then it could endanger you."

"So they have a healer there to fix me up... and I have to be there or she might kill me by mistake. Lovely," Toph concluded sarcastically. "I'll be sure to let them all know of your deep confidence in them." She sniffed at the air. "I don't smell Appa, so I take it I'm not being flown there."

"Oh, but you are," Kanna smiled. "Appa seems curiously reluctant to carry you..."

"Because he's smarter than most," Toph noted smugly.

"...so I enlisted another to take you to Kyoshi Island." Kanna smiled serenely. "Please do not manhandle him, as you did Appa."

"That depends on who..." There was a rumbling growl from far above Toph's head. "Oh I do hate you."

"That's nice, dear," Kanna smiled. "Say hello to Fang."

Toph looked upwards, in almost the right direction. "Hello Fang, hello Roku. I'm warning you in advance that if either of you try carrying me anywhere in your mouth, I'm going to pull both your beards out."

"Why would I carry you in my mouth?" asked Roku from the back of his dragon companion

"Just covering for all the possibilities," the girl told him and then stepped aside sharply as Fang lowered his neck towards her. "No squashing me either."

The dragon growled softly, something that Roku had long since learned to recognise as the draconic equivalent of a laugh and nudged gently at the girl.

Who promptly clutched at her head and fell over.

"Fang?" the one-time Avatar enquired with forced calm. "What did you just do?"

Dragon's are not well-suited to looking sheepish but there was a general sense of such as Fang shared an image of Toph and Zuko throwing fire at each other, overlaid with two roaring dragons.

"Ugh... weird shapes," Toph grumbled, rising to hands and knees as Kanna moved to assist her. "What happened?"

Roku cleared his throat. "I fear that Fang was perhaps a little enthusiastic in greeting you," he said a apologetically and reached down for Kanna to lift Toph up to him. "Did you see anything when he touched you?"

Toph moved her hand back and forth in front of her face, eyes not tracking it at all. "Is that a good enough answer?" she asked snidely.

"I meant in your mind," the old Avatar explained, lifting her easily to sit before him on Fang's neck. "Dragons speak directly from their mind to that of those they wish to address. I believe that he wished to deliver a compliment of sorts, that you and my great-grandson fought like dragons." He did not feel that it would be wise to mention that Fang's implication had been 'like _mating_ dragons'. "However, for one unaccustomed to sight, it must have been disconcerting."

"That was sight?" Toph asked incredulously. She shook her head. "You can keep it."

.oOo.

Mai eyed the white-haired woman suspiciously as Toph was carried into Kyoshi's Shrine on a litter. Her face didn't suggest that she was much older, if at all, than Mai and her long, elaborately ordered ivory hair and dark skin made her look like a reflection of the pale-skinned and raven haired fire maiden. The heavy garments she wore were a mix of blues and whites, the latter mostly fur and announcing her origins more clearly than anything else: one of the Water Tribes, and clearly not the hidden band from the swamp.

But after generations of raiding outlying settlements and the all out invasion of the Northern Tribe's citadel towards the end of Azulon's reign, the polar tribes had almost ceased to exist. Scattered groups were known to have withdrawn into the interiors, away from the seas that allowed the Fire Nation to attack them but that had also been their principal source of food. This woman's appearance did not speak of a hardscrabble survival.

"You must be the Avatar's sister," she greeted Mai warmly. "My name is Yue. Oyaji has told me much of you."

"Nothing good, I'm sure," Mai replied. "You can help her?"

"I hope so." Yue gestured towards a part of the floor. "Please place her here," she requested, unstoppering a water bag.

Mai stepped back reflexively. "You're a water bender?"

Oyaji placed one hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "The women of the Water Tribes learn to use their water bending skills to heal. Their abilities are unparalleled."

Water poured upwards out of the water bag, forming what Mai could only describe as some kind of floating puddle above Yue's hands. Kneeling over Toph, the water tribe woman brought the water down upon the savage scarring inflicted by Zuko's lightning and it slowly sank into the girl's body, Yue closing her eyes in concentration.

"Is she bending water... inside Toph?" Mai asked, incredulously.

Oyaji nodded solemnly. "That is how they heal," he explained.

Mai could see by the expression on Suki's face that the other girl was thinking along the same lines that she was, flinching at the thought but at the same time unable to stop considering how such a technique could be used as a weapon. Fire Nation propaganda painted water benders as using their water like a whip, flogging ineffectually at armoured soldiers. This painted a very different picture however.

The techniques might be too slow for use in open battle, but Mai could imagine dozens of ways that it could be used in raids, harassments and assassinations: a perfect tool for a guerrilla war. And the polar ice - or the depths of the Foggy Swamp - would put all advantage in the hands of a flexible defence of that nature. Somehow, Mai thought, I don't think that the Water Tribes are going to be wiped out as easily as the Air Nomads were.

Yue exhaled strongly and lifted her hands, drawing the water out of Toph. Mai could see that it was stained, no longer as clear as it once had been. Rather than returning it to the bag, Yue let it splash into a basin and sat back on her heels. "The physical damage is healing," she reported. "She will bear the scar for the rest of her life, but it is forming cleanly for the most part and I have removed any traces of infection that I can find. As for the chakra within..."

She looked over at Mai. "I gather that something was done to her chakras before this injury? What can you tell me about it?"

"I'm not a bender," Mai warned. "And I wasn't there, so all I know is what Toph has told me."

"I understand," Yue nodded. "Tell me what you can."

"As I understand it, her parents disapproved of her bending. She said that they hired someone to tamper with her chi, to prevent her from using it. It was done when she was asleep, so she doesn't know exactly what was done - I would guess something involving pressure points but as I understand it, those would only have a temporary effect."

"Usually, yes," Yue agreed. "Most likely several techniques were used in combination. What were the effects?"

"It didn't completely seal away her bending, but it weakened it considerably. She told me it took as much afterwards to bend two handfuls of sand as it had before to throw boulders hundreds of yards. This was before we discovered she could fire bend so I can't compare the other arts, but according to her fire bending teacher, she was above average in her ability to control and sense fire, so I presume that those were less affected."

"The third chakra, where she was struck, is sometimes referred to as the seat of power," mused Yue. "What you're describing would almost have to follow from some damage to it. Add in the attack and the Avatar is incredibly lucky to have survived."

"Can you help her?"

In response, Yue lifted a second water bag from the floor, this one more elaborately decorated, but also carefully reinforced and with a far stronger seal upon the stopper. "The only thing that I can think of that would is this: water from the Spirit Oasis."

Oyaji exhaled. "I thought that it had been destroyed."

"It was," Yue confirmed. "My parents and the Avatar carried Tui and La south with them and rebuilt it for them but it will take many more years before it we can impose upon them for more water. However, we also have a small supply of the water from the original." She weighed it gently in her hands. "This is half of what we have left." Slowly she began to undo the seal. "I do not know how potent it will be, but if this cannot heal the Avatar then nothing will."


	9. Chapter Eight

Zuko groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was pounding as if he'd spent the night drinking, which certainly was not the case he thought looking around the confines of his prison. A shock went through him, momentarily relegating his headache to secondary concern as he realised that the pallet on the far side of the room was empty of Toph.

The guards were also reduced in number, with only two of them present: one by the door, the second watching him from the middle of the room, well out of his reach. Neither of them looked as if they were going to be particularly forthcoming, but he wasn't overwhelmed with alternatives: "Where is Toph?" he demanded as politely as he could.

Two pairs of eyes tightened but neither of the white-faced warriors said anything. Zuko dragged on the chains, trying to find enough slack to stand. "Answer me!"

The door opened and Suki entered the room. "Stop shouting like a hog monkey," she ordered him, glaring and then looked over at the nearest guard. "June, unchain him from the wall. He and I are going for a little walk."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where Toph is," Zuko insisted, drawing back to block access to the pins that secured him to the wall. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he knew he was being childish, but at the same time, it was the only bargaining tool that he had.

The look that Suki directed at him was eloquent in how unimpressed she was with his attempt to negotiate. "You have exactly two choices," she warned. "You can co-operate and walk out of here, in which case you'll get to see Toph today. Or you can continue to make a fool of yourself, in which case you'll be dragged out of here to the nearest cliff and thrown off, in chains the whole time. Well?"

Zuko stared up at her for a few moments and then grudgingly moved aside. One of the guards - June, presumably - disarmed herself and moved closer, watching him as if he were wild animal that might turn and bite her at any moment. She unlocked the chains one at a time, legs first and then arms, ensuring that his ankles were still secured to each other, with just enough slack to walk; and his wrists although chained in front of him were loose enough for comfort but not far enough for him to use more than a few of the easier fire bending forms.

She saw him test his limits and her lips curled unpleasantly before she propelled him towards Suki with a hard hand at the small of his back. This close he realised that the make up disguised what would otherwise be prominent facial burns. "You aren't the first fire bender I've had in chains," she told him. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I don't know exactly what you can pull off with that much slack."

"Once burned, twice shy?" Zuko shot back and the extra force when she shoved him revealed that the needle had struck home.

"Play nicely or you won't get to play at all," reprimanded Suki, although Zuko wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to June.

Zuko blinked in the sunlight as he was escorted out of the building and he felt himself relax slightly, a tension that he had barely been aware of fading at the gentle warmth. There were two more of the white-faced soldiers waiting for them and the squad paused to reorganise itself - a pair in front of him and a pair behind while Suki walked beside him. None of them seemed inclined to say anything to him or to each other and Zuko took the time to look around as they followed an uphill path.

The trees and other vegetation didn't seem very different from those near Chin Village so it would seem that he wasn't all that far away. He'd been concerned when he guessed that he had been drugged - there was no way to know if he had been carried half way around the world as he slept - but there was a good chance that search parties would find this place if it wasn't too far. Much as it would gall Zuko to require a rescue, it was certainly preferable to some of the alternative outcomes. He hadn't seen any of these warrior women bending, other than Toph, and judging by their movements he suspected that none of them were. If it weren't for the chains, five of them might not be impossible odds.

As the path wound its way through the trees Zuko saw glimpses of the sea. Coastal or an island then: even better. Most of the remaining Earth Kingdom territory was inland, harder to attack without the fleet to provide logistical support to an army. That could be harder to escape from, but if he could make his way to the water then it would be difficult for any earth benders to contest with him. Of course, he was being marched away from it, but the possibility remained.

"So what's the story with the face paint?" he asked after the silence began to become oppressive.

Suki looked sideways at him. "It's traditional amongst our warriors," she said shortly.

"So Toph's one of your warriors?" he asked. "Even in the Fire Nation, no one is called to military service until they're fourteen."

The young woman glared at him for a moment. "Joining our number is an honour," Suki told him. "Not something that anyone is called to except by their own heart. Toph's heart simply called rather louder that most."

Zuko's gaze dropped to the floor, remembering Toph's laughing face as she practised in Omashu... and the tiny body laid on a pallet opposite his prison. "Yes," he said when he was sure that his voice would not break. "It always did."

.oOo.

Although Zuko would have died rather than admit it, he was weary when the little column halted at the top of the hill. More than a week chained to a wall with no chance to exercise had dulled his condition and he was painfully aware that it would probably take him twice as long to regain his edge.

There was a simple building of stone and wood on the summit, its isolation speaking far more of its importance to these people than any grandeur of design. Another village was visible in the distance, connected by another snaking path, and the sea was visible in that direction as well. Either an island or a peninsula then.

Suki looked around the clearing and then pointed at a pine not far from the crest. "That will do," she said calmly, and peeled off, heading for the building. The other four warriors led the captive prince over towards the tree, spreading out to watch him from all four directions.

"What are we here for?" he asked. "I thought you were taking me to Toph."

No matter which he looked at, impassive faces met his questioning stare, even June not smirking at his question. Turning towards the building, he saw that Suki did not enter, instead pausing at the doorway and then stepping back to allow Mai to walk out and join her. The fire maiden was wearing a well worn red and black outfit that Zuko recognised as the clothes she had worn when they fought Jet; and carrying a simple spade, clearly a peasant's tool. Only as she came closer did he see that her eyes were red-rimmed although her composed face gave no other indication that she had been crying.

Maybe she does feel guilty after all, he thought. Good.

Suki did not say anything as the two rejoined the group. Instead she took the spade from Mai and started marking out a rectangle on the ground underneath the tree, perhaps three feet wide and - after a speculative look at Zuko - just about twice as long. She then returned the tool to Mai who marked her own rectangle with what appeared to be less confidence than the auburn haired girl - not quite as wide and well over a foot shorter, no more than a long stride from the first.

"Now," Suki said, holding the spade out to Zuko, handle first. "Start digging."

"You said you were bringing me to Toph," he replied, not accepting the tool. "Where is she?"

Suki scowled and he saw Mai turn her face away from them. "I told you that if you co-operated, you would see her today. Unless you would rather take that final step I mentioned, in which case there is a suitable drop only a few minute's walk here. Over deep water, so once you sink no one will ever find you."

They matched stares for a moment and then Zuko lowered his gaze, reaching out to take the spade. "So what, you want me to mark out another rectangle?"

The women looked at him as if he were cretin. "No. Dig out the ones that we carved," Suki ordered. "I'll tell you when they are deep enough."

Zuko frowned. What did they want a pair of pits for? And why make him dig them? Had they run out of men to boss around here or something? With a grunt, he drove the spade through the sod and rapidly cleared the overlayer from first one rectangle and then the other. With that done he looked at Suki but she gave no indication of satisfaction so he shrugged and started to dig deeper. He hadn't really thought that she'd be satisfied by that.

It didn't take long for him to build up a sweat, but he stubbornly refused to rest. The sooner he was done, the sooner they'd take him to Toph and he could find out what this was all about.

The smaller hole was waist deep when Suki called for him to stop digging. "That's deep enough," she told him. "Make the other one a little deeper."

"And then what?" he asked. "You want me to do your laundry as well?" He scrambled out of the pit and then lifted the spade again. "What do you need these holes for, anyway?"

The girls looked at each other and Suki sighed. "I'd have thought you would have remembered, Prince Zuko. This is the Earth Kingdom. We bury our dead."

Zuko stared at the grave he had just dug in utter horror, realising the significance of its dimensions. His gorge rose at the thought of the girl dead, of her cold body lying in it as earth was piled over her, food for worms. It was only after he was on his knees, dry heaving, that a second thought struck him: 'if Toph does die of her wounds I'll be burying you next to her' 'you'll get to see Toph today'. The second, longer grave would be for him.

"No."

"No?" Suki asked with malicious mildness. "Is something the matter, Prince Zuko? Your accommodations not to your liking?"

Zuko looked up pleadingly. "I don't care what you do to me," he offered. "But don't bury her. Toph was a fire bender. Let me give her the rites she has earned."

"You are not in a position to bargain, your highness," Mai said coldly. "You struck her down with lightning, which ended any rights you have towards her."

"I'm not bargaining," the Prince of the Fire Nation clarified, still on his knees, lowering his face to the ground in supplication towards Suki. "I'm begging you. Let me do her this one service before I die."

.oOo.

"Mai," Suki said, "Toph is your sister. I will let you decide this."

Bitch. Mai would admit to herself - and maybe to Toph if it was possible - that she was conflicted on what to do about Zuko. On the one hand, he was the boy who she'd liked since - perhaps before - he'd knocked her into a fountain trying to protect her from burning fruit (long story). On the other hand he was the man who'd ridden across a sizeable chunk of the Earth Kingdom, punctuating the journey by burning towns, to avenge her apparent death. Azula might have found that flattering, but Mai had to admit that it left her somewhat cold.

And then there was Toph: who had seemed to be quite fond of Zuko at Omashu; and had been electrocuted by him at Chin Village. Oddly enough, Mai suspected that the young girl wouldn't have been as upset by the latter as Mai was. She couldn't imagine Toph entering a fight without sublime confidence that she would triumph, however misplaced, or facing defeat with anything by a bloodthirsty enthusiasm to repay it with interest.

Would Toph kill him?

Since leaving Omashu, Mai could recall weighing options on the arguments of 'What would Azula do?' and 'What would Ty Lee do?' but this was the first time that Toph had entered into that line up. And there was something deeply unhealthy about using your twelve year old sister as a moral compass, so she had better never mention this to anyone.

Toph _would_ kill Zuko. But not like this. There would be fire, earthquakes and possibly screaming. But not like this, with him grovelling in shame and apparently willing to die as long as some obscure point of honour was resolved to his liking.

With a reluctant sigh, Mai walked over to Zuko and grabbed the loose locks of hair that had once formed his topknot. "Stand up," she ordered abruptly, yanking him upwards. The clueless expression on his face wasn't half as cute as she had thought when he was younger. "Just to make it official, I do not forgive you and I never will." She turned and started walking towards Kyoshi's Shrine.

Bemused, Zuko looked after her. "What?"

Since Suki was too busy looking disappointed to answer, it was June who replied by prodding him forwards. "Did you get dropped on the head when you were a child? Follow her."

He obeyed, trying to puzzle out what was happening. Zuko had expected either to be killed - because he was damned if he was digging another spadeful now that he knew what those 'holes' were for, or to be allowed to send Toph to Agni properly by cremation. He hadn't expected a... non-answer. Was he being taken to Toph's body or to a place of execution?

The door loomed large and he entered, the Kyoshi Warriors close behind him, then paused to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light inside. The single chamber was spartan, a handful of racks displaying items from the uniform of one of the warriors. The only decoration was a large painting at the back, of what subject he could not tell at a glance.

Besides Mai the room had three occupants: an old man who seemed startled and concerned at his presence, a white-haired woman who seemed surprised but not alarmed, kneeling over the pallet that held the last person.

"Toph?"

"You should not have brought him here," the old man declared angrily. He moved to block Zuko as the prince strode towards the pallet only to find that an elderly man with no martial training isn't even an obstacle to a sixteen year old soldier twice his side. Zuko brushed him aside without breaking stride and would have done the same with the woman, had she not moved aside to let him reach Toph. Absently he noted that other than her hair she appeared to be little more than his own age, if that, but the bulk of his attention was upon pink cheeks and half-lidded eyes of milky jade.

"You've really let yourself go, Sifu Broody," Toph choked out. "I guess you need me around to keep you on your toes."

"You crazy little fool," Zuko choked out and started hugging her against him in a most embarrassing fashion ignoring the affectionate way she was pummelling his ribcage and demanding to be released.

"Who is he?" Yue asked Mai, behind him.

She shrugged. "Her fire bending teacher... and the one who nearly killed her."

"He should not be here!" the old man said, apparently in the belief that no one had heard him the first time. "What were you thinking, Suki?"

The Kyoshi Warrior looked down at Zuko and Toph for a minute before turning to him. "I'm thinking that he's a man, not a monster, Oyaji. A man who's made his mistakes, perhaps, but also a man who was willing to face up to them out there."

"Do you think that that matters? You know what he could bring down upon us."

"If he does so, then in a number of ways it would because we - because I have not acted justly towards him," Suki told him. "I'm beginning to suspect that Kyoshi would not have approved of what I just did to him."

"I take it that it has something to do with the chains he's wearing?" asked Yue, eyeing Zuko with new suspicion at learning he was a fire bender.

Briefly, Suki outlined how she had tested Zuko, and his response. Yue's face tightened as she listened and then she shook her head. "I know little of the Avatar Kyoshi," she admitted, "But I think that the Avatar Kanna would have been furious at treating anyone like that." Only Toph noted Zuko's ears pricking at the use of the name.

"You knew her?" Suki asked. "You would have only been a little girl?"

"She was close to my parents," Yue reminded her. "And she always had time for children. Looking back, I think she regretted most that her duties had kept her from being a mother herself. Mother told me once that she had spoken at times of a man in her past, a water bender named Pakku, but that would have been before she learnt that she was the Avatar."

With a grunt, Toph finally managed to wriggle free of Zuko. "Well some Avatar's have kids," she told them. "Roku did."

"So did Kyoshi," confirmed Oyaji. "She was my great-great-great-great grandmother."

"Really? I wonder if that make's you two relatives?" Toph asked, looking between the old man and Zuko.

"Why would it make us relatives?" Zuko asked, while Oyaji spluttered at the very notion. "I'm absolutely certain that I'm not descended from Kyoshi. I'm sure it would be a very great honour," he added quickly, "Although one I wouldn't want to advertise in the Fire Nation, but -"

"Not Avatar Kyoshi," Toph told him smugly. "Avatar _Roku_. He told me himself he was your great-great grandfather."

Zuko stared at her for a moment. "Uh, Toph, he's been dead for... about a hundred and twelve years. How could he tell you anything?"

She waved her hand casually. "I was in the spirit world for -" She broke off as the sudden alarm in four hearts caught her attention. "Ah... I hadn't had a chance to mention that yet."

"The... spirit world?" Zuko asked cautiously. "Toph are you sure that you weren't dreaming? No offense, but I _know_ one of my ancestors -" He paused, looked at Yue and shrugged resignedly. "I'm Sozin's great-grandson and I'm reasonably sure he'd never have allowed a marriage between the royal family and the family of an Avatar."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Setting aside Toph basing her argument on information received in the Spirit World, Sozin died quite a long time ago. He probably had no say in the matter."

"He died after Lord Azulon was married," Zuko told her definitely.

"Well who would that leave as a possible connection?"

Zuko's face went red. "You're saying that my _mother_...?"

"It isn't exactly an insult around here," Suki told him sharply. "The Avatar Kyoshi created this island as a sanctuary for her people. You're standing in a shrine to her memory. You fire benders may object to the Avatars preventing you from pillaging your way across the world, but the other nations appreciated it."

"And look where it left you," Zuko argued. "So weak that without the Avatar you were helpless. At least the Fire Nation stands on its own two feet!"

"I'm sure that that really helps when you're beating up twelve year olds," Suki told him irritably. "Do you want to go back outside and finish what we were doing? Mai seems to think you should have a second chance, but you're right on the edge of using that up."

Zuko froze. Mai had given him a second chance?

The girl interpreted his expression correctly and her lips thinned. "Don't mistake it for forgiveness," she told him harshly.

"I see." He lowered his gaze and then his eyes narrowed. "Wait, a twelve year old?" He turned to Toph. "It's only been a few months since Omashu..."

"I guess," the little girl said cheerily. "I can't read a calendar."

"You lied?" Zuko demanded in disbelief. "You're twelve years old?" Reaching down, he grasped Toph by her upper arms. "Toph, tell me that you aren't an earth bender," he pled, panic rising.

"Don't tell him!" Oyaji blurted.

There was a disbelieving silence as everyone stared at him.

"Great denial," Mai deadpanned.

.oOo.

"So what happens now, Spiky?" Toph asked, after Yue had shooed everyone out of the shrine to let Toph rest. The water bender had also tried to persuade Mai to leave but had finally found something colder and frostier than the centuries old ice of the South Pole and had eventually settled for Mai's agreement not to let Toph overexert herself.

The older girl sat cross-legged at the head of the pallet, her fingers meticulously untangling Toph's hair from the knots that had managed to form since the girl awoke. "We can't stay here, little sister."

Toph grinned. "Getting bored already?"

"Yes," admitted Mai unabashedly. "But more importantly, there will be search parties for Zuko, if they aren't here already. And now that he knows that you are the Avatar, we cannot allow him to be found."

"You think he'd try to kill me?" Toph asked thoughtfully, apparently unconcerned.

"No," Mai answered. "But I believe that he would try to imprison you. To prevent you from threatening the Fire Nation's agenda. He would probably tell the Fire Lord that killing you would simply result in the birth of a new Avatar, but that holding you captive renders you harmless."

Toph hunched in on herself. "Keeping me in a box like Bumi," she said. "'Protecting me' the way my parents did."

Mai continued to run her fingers through Toph's hair. "I said that he would try," she said, emphasising the last word. "If we give him the chance to."

"You have some sort of devious plan," concluded Toph, slowly relaxing. "So what do we do?"

"After your secret adventure in the Spirit World, maybe I should keep it to myself?" suggest Mai, tugging lightly on a lock of hair.

"Look, it's not my fault that you weren't there when a huge sky bison carried me off."

"No, but it was your idea to challenge Zuko to an Agni Kai," Mai said harshly, the words slipping out. "Do you have any idea how close you came to dying?"

Toph crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm not a little girl," she warned. "I knew what I was doing."

"Our orders were to investigate and to report," Mai reminded her. "Not to get into a fight."

"I was investigating," Toph shot back. "I was investigating why Sifu Broody was being a colossal idiot."

"And I suppose throwing rocks at him helped with that?"

"Do you know a faster way into his head than cracking it open?"

Mai couldn't help but smirk at that. "He has a very thick skull," she observed acerbically. "You may have a small point, but don't _ever_ do that again. I'd have smacked you around the head if you'd won, for being so reckless."

Toph reached up and caught hold of her sister's hands, stopping them from combing for a moment. "I can't promise you that," she said seriously. "I'm the Avatar. I believe that now. And that means that I'm going to be doing dangerous things."

"I didn't come with you because I thought it would be safe," Mai reminded her. "Just remember to invite me along next time."

"That depends. Are you going to invite me along on this clever plan of yours?"

Mai grinned. "Well, just remember, you're the one who wants to be part of this."

"I don't like the way that you're saying that," said Toph warily.

"Yue invited us to come and stay with her," Mai explained. "And if we take Zuko along with us, then we can be sure that he isn't getting up to any mischief - he'd be hard pressed to bend all that much fire when he's surrounded by mile after mile of ice, and there will be a whole tribe of suspicious water benders on hand to keep him under control."

"Mai, you are a brutal, nasty woman and I am so proud that you are my sister," Toph smiled. Then her face scrunched up. "Wait, when you say ice, you mean covering the ground, right?"

Mai smirked. "The South Pole is a huge mass of ice floating on the sea," she explained. "There's no earth for hundreds of miles and it's so cold you'll have to wear furs and boots or you'll start freezing yourself."

"I hate it already."

"Just think of it as an incentive to master water bending," Mai told her.

.oOo.

"Is that a sky bison?" Zuko asked in astonishment.

"A sky... oh hell no! I'm walking," Toph protested, backing up.

Yue frowned. "I thought that you had ridden a sky bison in the Spirit World, Avatar Toph," she pointed out. "And the South Pole is across the ocean, you cannot walk there."

"Firstly, yes I did: why do you think that I want to walk? Secondly, I can water bend enough to walk on water, I think."

"I thought that they were extinct," Zuko murmured, not paying any attention to the two women's conversation.

"Yes, yes, sky bison and dragons, that makes two species your people have tried to exterminate," Toph called to him. "If you guys go after the badger moles then I'm going to go all Avatar on you." She could hear the way his heart beat, the way his breathing altered in response to the fear that washed over him and frowned. "That was a joke. Well, sort of. I'd certainly do something about it."

"You can't walk across the ocean to the South Pole," Yue insisted. "It's too far."

She's stubborn enough to try, Mai thought. "Toph, by the time you found the South Pole we'd have all died of old age. There aren't any landmarks out there for you to navigate by."

Toph looked honestly surprised - proof of her growing skills as a liar. "There aren't?"

"You've tried navigating in the water before," Mai reminded her. "It was amusing, but this isn't the time. Get on the flying buffalo."

"Bison."

"Whatever."

Toph mumbled something and then walked over to the bison. "What's his name?" she asked, touching his side and then walking along him, one hand running through his winter coat of hair.

Yue smiled angelically. "He's called Kuku. He likes being rubbed under the jaw," she added tolerantly.

"Thanks," said Toph and then grabbed hold of the corner of Kuku's mouth and pulled his head around to face her. As the bison's head was significantly larger than her, she had to use both hands. "I know you understand me Kuku, so no playing a dumb animal. The first time you dangle me from your horns will be the last? Got that?" Kuku mooed tolerantly and Toph nodded. "Great, pleased to meet you," she said and gave him a good rub under the jaw.

"You have a unique way with animals," Yue told her in a strangled voice.

"It only works with those smarter than the Boulder," Toph confessed and then grinned. "Fortunately, most mussels are smarter than he was."

Zuko looked intrigued. "Uh... was?" he asked cautiously.

"What?"

"You referred to the Boulder in the past tense," Mai explained. "He's asking if the Boulder is dead."

Toph rubbed her face with the heel of her hand. "You couldn't have just said that?" she asked the prince. "Yes, he's dead."

"You're sure?" Zuko asked brightly.

"Your highness," Mai said icily. "I'm sure that a man of your military experience can work out that there are only two possible individuals in the world who would have made sure of that." She rested one hand on Toph's shoulder. "And I didn't."

Zuko's face went red, then an unpleasant shade of green, and at that point he decided that he had pressing business on the other side of Kuku and went off in pursuit of it. Of course, then he had to join Mai and Toph in the saddle, so it didn't help him very much.

"Oh stop that," Mai said irritably. "If you're going to jump off and kill yourself, we aren't high enough off the ground yet and we aren't going to let you run away, so stop looking like you're about to throw yourself off the saddle."

"It's quite alright to be nervous, your highness," Yue said formally from where she was sitting cross-legged on Kuku's neck. She snapped the reins lightly and with a mild "Yip, yip," prompted the sky bison to lumber forward a few steps and then rise steadily into the sky.

Mai looked over the side of the saddle with detached interest at the bird's eye view of Kyoshi Island. It was somewhat... not interesting, but novel. She noted that Zuko was very determinedly not looking down and on impulse asked Yue: "What would happen if someone fell from here? Assuming they landed in the water, I mean."

"Oh it wouldn't make any difference," Yue said calmly. "From this height, they'd be falling so fast that hitting the water would be as bad as hitting a thousand yard deep iceberg." She looked back and added kindly, "Don't worry, it would take so long to fall the distance that there would be plenty of time for Kuku to dive down and catch you."

Neither Toph nor Zuko seemed greatly comforted.


	10. Chapter Nine

The cold winds of the southern oceans were an unpleasant surprise to the three first time visitors. Toph and Mai pulled on the robes of their Kyoshi Warrior uniforms over their everyday clothes and still shivered. Zuko, who simply had no other clothes with him, made do with a thick blanket and almost constant meditation to keep his internal temperature up.

"This isn't cold," Yue said in bemusement. She hadn't even bothered to don the heavy parka that was rolled up in a bundle at the back of the saddle and was behaving in general as if she was enjoying a balmy summers day. "It's just getting comfortable again after that hothouse weather Kyoshi Island has."

The three 'northerners', not that they had previously grouped themselves that way, stared at her. Kyoshi Island was pleasantly temperate at best. "We're going to need warmer clothes," Mai told her. "Much warmer."

Yue nodded. "There's a small village not that far onto the ice, I used it as a waypoint on my journey north," she offered. "We can get you furs there. Until then I suggest that you huddle together and try to stay out of the wind."

Mai looked at where Toph was already pressed against her side. It wasn't clear yet what the long term effects of the spirit water had been, Yue had forbidden any active bending until the chakra had had time to stabilise, so the smaller girl could not warm herself the same way that Zuko could.

"I mean, all of you," Yue added, looking back towards Zuko, who was sat on the far side of the saddle, which meant that his feet were within inches of Mai's. "When it comes to sharing body heat, you probably have more to offer than the rest of us, Prince Zuko. Sit next to Toph."

"Don't have any sudden impulses towards martyrdom," Mai warned the young man as he grudgingly crawled across Kuku's back and sat gingerly next to Toph. She hated the way that she could feel Toph relax slightly at the addition of another warm body, although young earth bender remained loyally pressed against her.

"You tested that out of me back on Kyoshi," Zuko said tiredly.

"And you were willing to die if it meant doing what you thought was honourable," pointed out Mai bleakly.

"Murdering someone in their sleep -"

"Oh yeah, like you could do that," gibed Toph from the middle of them. "Spiky, if Broody gets even slightly aggressive back there, I'll know. Trust me. Broody, shut up and make with the heating. You're supposed to be warming me up back there."

"Agni preserve me," Zuko muttered. "I never met the real you at all."

"You met part of me," Toph allowed, still not turning to face him. Although there would have been little point in doing so, from her perspective. "More of me than my parents cared to meet. Now you get to meet the rest of me."

"I feel so lucky."

Yue laughed musically from Kuku's head.

.oOo.

"There it is," Yue called, pointing ahead where the horizon was beginning to show as a line of white.

"Land?" Toph asked hopefully.

"Icebergs," the water bender corrected. "What passes for the shore of the south polar is mostly made up of icebergs. As we go further and further south they'll get larger and larger until they all merge into one."

"I don't think I've ever come across ice," Toph mused. "It's an odd idea, solid water. What does it feel like?"

"There are lots of different forms of ice," Yue told her. "Much like earth, I suppose. It's cold of course, and hard. Sometimes it's smooth, but it can also be rough. And then there's snow, which is soft and feathery, wet and -"

"Cold?"

"Yes," Yue chuckled. She reached out with one hand and felt for moisture in the air. "Here, I'll let you find out for yourself," she told Toph and condensed some of the moisture into water and then into ice. She passed the more or less egg-sized chuck of ice back to Mai, who winced and dutifully handed it on to Toph.

The blind girl ran her hands over it enquiringly and then sat up, to rub it across the sole of one foot. "Ouch, that is cold," she admitted. "It's turning back into water though. Is that normal?"

"When it warms up," Mai told her. "You're probably holding it too close to Zuko," she added, indicating the sleeping fire bender.

"So he's not just a bed warmer, he's an ice melter?" Toph asked and was intrigued by the way that both Mai and Yue choked. A thought crossed her mind. "Where did you get this from? Did it fall out of the sky or something?"

"No, the air is damp enough that I was able to pull water out of it and freeze it," Yue explained.

"And you can do that in reverse?" probed Toph.

"Of course. It's one of the most common used for water bending - most of our construction techniques revolve around it. Why do you ask?"

"And there was water _in the air_?" Toph said, ignoring the question. "It's not rain or anything like that?"

Yue gave her a blank look, then remembered that Toph couldn't see her. "No. Is there a problem, Avatar?"

"So water becomes solid when it's colder and stops being sold when it's warmed up? And water can be in the air..." Toph mused. "No, no problem, just about half my ideas about how water bending works are wrong but that," she decided, "Is totally awesome. Because it's giving me whole new ideas about what I can do with it. Now I really want to learn it."

"You're thinking of mayhem, aren't you?" Mai said resignedly. Even the prospect of being able to see in whatever icy hellhole they were heading for hadn't aroused this much enthusiasm in her sister.

.oOo.

The water tribe village was tiny. Mai thought at first that it was simply a temporary camp - crude ice walls around tents built over simple wooden floors. But the populace evidently weren't a fast moving hunting group - out of the dozen or so adults, more than half were clearly elderly and only one of them was male. The population was filled out by a more or less equal number of children.

"Princess Yue," called man raising one arm in greeting as Kuku set down in almost belly deep snow. He was tall and lean, cutting an impressive figure in blue dyed furs, dark hair bound up in a topknot. Were it not for his blue eyes and dark skin, he would have fit seamlessly into any circle of Fire Nation military officers. "You've returned sooner than expected. I hope that your patient is well."

"She is well," Yue replied pleasantly and looked back at her passengers. "My friends, I would like to introduce my good friend Chief Bato of the Southern Water Tribe. Bato, I would like you to meet Mai, Zuko and Toph."

"Princess?" Mai asked curiously.

Yue made a face. "My father, Arnook, is Chief of the Northern Water Tribe who relocated here. It doesn't really matter since the title isn't hereditary, but it doesn't stop people from calling me a princess or trying to pair me up with Bato as some sort of symbolic unification of the tribes."

Bato shrugged. "I keep telling you, Princess. If you want to quiet the gossips then find yourself a young man."

"It doesn't quiet them that you're out here with your harem of war widows," Yue smiled, "So I have my doubts. I'm afraid my companions had to leave their current residence without winter wear. I'm sorry to impose..."

The man waved his hand dismissively. "Yue, your father is an interfering busybody, but you are an ornament upon the Water Tribes and any service I can do you is a delight. I'm quite sure we can outfit the three of them for a trip south." He looked up at them all reassuringly. "Come into the village and enjoy our hospitality for the night."

"Ground? Great!" Toph said and made to jump off Kuku, only to be restrained by Mai catching hold of the back of the green dress.

"Toph, you aren't getting off the bison until you have boots on," she declared flatly. "I've heard about frostbite and your feet won't see anything every again if all the flesh on them is frozen solid."

Yue stood up to help Mai restrain the headstrong girl. "Could you bring some boots first, Bato?" she requested urgently.

Toph struggled - more out of principle than any desperate need to reach the ice, which would be a poor substitute for honest ground - to escape. "It can't be that bad," she protested.

"It's as bad as fire in its way," Zuko said quietly from where he was sitting. "Veterans call it ice burn. There's a reason that our soldiers cover every bit of their bodies when they enter cold climates."

"Really?" Toph relaxed suddenly and Yue let go of her, reassured. Mai, better acquainted with her sister, did not but for once Toph was not feigning her switch of attention. "Is it quick?"

"I've never seen it myself, but it is said that a few moments can cause crippling injuries. Even brief contact can cause serious damage unless it is treated immediately," Zuko said, not looking up.

"What sort of injuries?" Toph asked curiously.

"Mildly?" Zuko asked. "Scarring and loss of sensation in the exposed part of the body. At worst? Quite often they become infected and have to be amputated. A lot of soldiers lose noses or fingers after serving in this part of the world."

Toph looked genuinely impressed. "I'm gonna have to figure out how to do that to people," she observed. Yue looked genuinely appalled. "Bad people," Toph clarified. "People who deserve fates worse than death."

"Here," Bato called from below Kuku. Apparently he had hurried, or Toph had been more distracted by the prospect of burning people with cold than she had expected. A boot came sailing up over the side of the saddle, followed by the partner. "They should be around the right size, if not we can pad them."

Yue passed the boots to Toph and then jumped down to talk urgently to Bato in a low voice, obviously unaware that the blind girl couldn't have failed to overhear her if she had been trying to. Which she was, because hearing a recital of the scandalous history of the three people still on Kuku - or as much of it as Yue knew - was boring. Bato's reactions weren't all that much more interesting although she was pretty sure that he was genuinely not romantically interested in Yue.

Instead, she wrestled the unfamiliar footwear on. And then off again, because she figured that they were so uncomfortable that she must have them on the wrong feet, and Mai hadn't said anything because she thought it was funny. However, the other way around was worse and with a deep feeling of despair, Toph accepted that the previous discomfort was the _normal_ sensation of wearing boots and stripped them off again.

"Are you going to keep playing with them until the sun sets?" Mai asked, her voice bored.

"It won't set for months now," Zuko told her. "It happens when you're too far north or south. I think these parts of the world are broken some how."

Mai thought about that and then decided not to as it was making her head hurt. "The question stands."

Somewhat unsteadily, Toph stood up with her feet inside the boots. "I can't feel anything at all through these," she warned and then clambered over the side of the saddle and slid down Kuku to the snow. She sank past her knees into the snow and was glad that the boots were long enough to reach the bottom of her pants. Spirits, the stuff was cold!

Not known entirely what she was looking for, she reached out the way she had for water, back on the beaches of Kyoshi Island. This was water too, so it shouldn't be so very different. Harder with cloth and fur between her and it, but not different. Not entirely.

Snow was ice, she realised in surprise. Tiny little flakes of it. Different arrangement, same thing. About as distinct from the almost rock-like chunk of ice that Yue had given her, as sand was from good honest stone but on a very fundamental level the same thing. She stomped her foot experimentally.

"If your bending talent burns out because you push it, I'll let Ty Lee pick your wardrobe," Mai warned her dispassionately, landing in the snow next to Toph. Everything that Toph had heard about Mai's other friend suggested that this would result in pink. From the way that Mai used the word, it was unclear if she meant the colour or some other meaning of the word. Maybe a fruit, like an orange.

Toph shook her head. Focus. What had it felt like when she stamped? She did so again.

"What's she doing?" asked Bato from somewhere.

"Bending," Mai replied.

The water tribesman sounded puzzled. "Bending what? Nothing's happening."

"Herself, for all I know," said the fire maiden with a bored look on her face.

Yue pinched the bridge of her nose. "Toph, I told you not to bend until I was sure that your fourth chakra had recovered.

"I'm not sure where you got the idea that I take orders from you," Toph told her. "I'm grateful and all that, but giving up bending is a bit much."

Yue's eyes tightened. "If your ability to bend is permanently impaired," she pointed out angrily. "The consequences would be dire. I am telling you this for your own good."

"That was what my parents said when they tried to permanently obliterate it," Toph retorted hotly, the snow melting slightly around her. "I'll decide my own good from now on."

"Toph," Mai observed. "It _may_ not be your own good to fire bend on ice that's floating on very deep water."

The avatar paused, nodded, and stepped away from the puddle that she had inadvertently created. "I'll listen to suggestions," she said in grudging concession.

.oOo.

Zhao stared through the telescope. "Well, well, well," he mused triumphantly. "And I thought that there wouldn't be any excitement down here."

The Fire Nation Admiral's squadron were drifting south, carried by a current that they had learned off from a captured Water Tribe map. From long experience, Zhao knew that the smoke from his ships while under power could be detected before he could reach his targets. Where possible, he would use the engines only in darkness where the columns of smoke were almost undetectable, but it was the wrong time of year and so he was letting the elements carry him closer, until there would be no time to react when he raised steam.

And what a prize there was, Zhao chuckled. The huge creature outside the pathetic water tribe village had to be a sky bison. There hadn't been a confirmed sighting in decades but there had been rumours for years that a few remnants of the Air Nomad's favoured mounts had survived in remote areas. And if the Water Tribe village knew where one was, they might know where to find more.

Sky Bison weren't exactly prey on a level with Dragons, but since the 'Fire Lord' Iroh had inconsiderately killed the last Dragons when Zhao was a boy, he'd settle for this. The fur would make an excellent trophy and if any of the water tribe women were captured, it would be an even better bed for demonstrating his domination of their people on.

"Signal the other ships," he ordered. "We have a target and for the moment, they haven't spotted us."

The captain standing on the bridge gestured sharply and a signaller started forming small flames inside a specially shielded lantern, each little sequence of fire bursts signifying a particular code phrase. "If I'm any judge of the weather, it appears that there will be a heavy mist rolling in," he told the admiral. "That will cover our approach."

"Good. Very good. Four ships will hold back as a reserve in case this is some kind of trap," Zhao decided. "We'll take the other two ships in. There can't be more than a couple of dozen warriors in a small village like that, and three ships will be more than enough to overwhelm that."

"As you command, Admiral," the captain agreed, following rules one and two of 'dealing with Zhao', as passed down in the oral tradition of the Fire Nation Navy: 'use his rank, a lot' and 'never argue with him'. "What formation would you prefer?"

"Are you an idiot?" Zhao sneered. "Trident formation, of course. I will lead our warriors directly into the village while those of the other ships encircle it, to capture those who turn and flee." He slapped the rail. "It's been too long since we reminded these savages of the might of the Fire Nation. They've grown complacent, building one of their villages here on the sea."

"And if they have information regarding Prince Zuko, Admiral?"

Zhao chuckled. "Do you really think anyone cares about one inconsequential princeling? Everyone knows that he wasn't as strong as his sister or his cousin. Either one of them got their claws into him and the other reacted, or perhaps Ozai himself decided to get rid of an incompetent. In either case, no one wants him found." He looked through the telescope again. "No, we're just here to make a show of searching for the little lost prince, and because Prince Lu Ten wants to gain every last bit of glory he can at Ba Sing Se to counter Princess Azula's triumph."

.oOo.

Zuko was taking great comfort in the small blaze that crackled at the centre of the tent that the travellers had been loaned. In these frosty climes, the smoky fire needed almost constant attention to keep it alive, fed with scraps and only the most useless of waste, so most tents only had lanterns. Those would not suffice for warm-blooded visitors however, and allowance was made for what was obviously a sign of weakness in the eyes of the village women.

"Benders and their elements," Mai sniffed but she didn't make more than the barest pretence that she wasn't as glad of the source of heat as any of the rest of them. Toph had stripped off the hated boots at the first opportunity and was sitting with her feet pointed towards the fire, close enough to risk a scorching.

"We'll have to stay a little longer than I hoped," Yue said, laying down the bundle of possessions that she had carried from Kuku. Bato had been erecting a tent around the animal to shelter him while he rested, not willing to assume that the creature's long winter fur would be enough protection for the rare sky bison. "There's a mist rolling in, and flying over ice can be dangerous enough when it's visible."

"What's so dangerous about it?" asked Mai and since it was she asking, rather than Toph, Yue concluded that it was a genuine desire to understand rather than cocky derision.

"Ice formations can be deceptive. Without a frame of reference, it's easy to assume that something is large and distant when actually it's much smaller, but right in front of you. Kuku has good instincts, but he isn't infallible about these things." Yue shrugged. "Besides, he is tired and while we could press on, I think a night out here will let you acclimatise before it gets really cold."

"_Really_ cold?"

"Oh yes," Yue nodded regretfully. "This is fairly mild. If it weren't for the Fire Nation, most of the tribe would be living here on the coast. As it is, we have to make our homes further inland. Even we find it chilly."

Zuko shivered and drew a blanket closer around his shoulders. "Being buried alive on Kyoshi Island is sounding better and better," he muttered.

"It's not too late to throw you into the sea," Mai offered coldly. "From what you said about frostbite, that should kill you almost instantly."

Toph picked at her nose. "That was cold, Spiky." She examined the tip of her finger, before flicking the residue into the flames.

The flap of the tent pushed aside and Bato stepped inside, his face grim. "There are Fire Nation ships in the area," he told them. "You'd better leave, even if you have to do so on foot.

"What?" she called, but he had left again. "Get packed up," the water bender ordered, and pushed out of the flap herself, not waiting to receive confirmation from the three northerners.

Zuko started obediently shuffling into the parka that Bato had offered him in loan, mind churning. If Fire Nation ships were near...

"You're thinking about running," Toph told him flatly, as she wrestled the boots back onto her feet.

"If they picked me up then they would have to leave, to take me home," offered Zuko weakly.

"At best they'd send one ship back with you while the others keep coming," Mai contradicted. "Particularly once you tell them about Toph. No Fire Nation commander would pass up the chance to capture the Avatar."

"I..." Wouldn't tell them? But it's my duty! Why wouldn't I tell whoever isn't in command there about Toph being the Avatar? "I..." Capturing the Avatar would make my name, make father proud of me. But she's not just the Avatar, is she? She's also _Toph_.

"It's touching that you'd hesitate about it, Sifu Broody," Toph told him, "But it isn't getting your clothes on. And if I have to drag you, I'm going to be rough about it."

"You seem to forget who lost our Agni Kai," snapped Zuko angrily, rising to his feet.

"And you 'seem to forget' who wound up being chained up afterwards," Mai cut in. "You're in just as much danger as the rest of us, _your highness_. Chances are pretty good that the soldiers on that ship will notice you're a man in blue furs a lot sooner than they'll notice that you don't look all that much like one of the water tribe an it'll be hard for anyone to tell the difference once you're a charred corpse on the ground."

Zuko blanched and made to remove the parka.

"Uh-uh," Toph told him, smacking his hands as she clambered to her feet. "If I have to suffer in this then so do you." She had almost crawled into her own parka, which was clearly too large for her, hanging to her knees and covering her hands entirely.

"How can you tell what I'm doing?" he protested, conceding for the moment.

"I'm blind, not deaf. And this wood is so old it's almost as solid as rock," Toph told him. "Earth bender, remember? Every time you shift posture it's sending vibrations through the boards. Granted, wouldn't mean much to most, but I've had a lot of practise."

"If you two benders are done exchanging notes, we need to go," Mai told them and pushed her way out of the tent.

Toph yelped an incoherent protest and barrelled after her, almost getting tangled up in the tent flaps before forcing her way through. "What?" Mai said a moment later, clearly audible through the tent. "You want to hold my hand?"

"I can just about figure out what's around me in these things," Toph said, stamping her boots as Zuko followed them out of the tent. The smaller girl had grasped Mai's left hand with her own right, in the process, capturing the fire maiden's entirely within the cuff of the earth bender's parka. "That's not the same as knowing where I'm going."

"I'm not a great deal better off," Mai warned and Zuko could see her point. The other tents, only a few dozen yards away at most, were reduced to featureless domes by the mist and the ice block ramparts around them was almost entirely invisible. The sisters didn't release each other's hands though.

Bato was collapsing the canvas over Kuku as efficiently as he had raised it. "I know you can't fly in this," he told Yue, overriding her objection. "But the children can't travel fast enough on foot to stay ahead of Fire Nation soldiers and we need to go now. They've learnt not to just strike for the villages, but to surround them. Which means we all have to move, fast and _now_."

Yue stared at him and then looked at the children being led towards her by their mothers, clearly bundled out of their beds with little to no explanation. Tired, understanding just enough to be scared and far too little to know what to be scared of. "You're the expert," she surrendered and reached down for a moment before pulling her hand up from the ice. A simple stairway rose up after her hand, leading from the ground up to Kuku's saddle. "Now then," she asked the children brightly. "Who wants to be the first to ride the bison?"

.oOo.

The cold bit into Zuko as he trudged alongside Mai and Toph in Kuku's footsteps. The massive sky bison was leaving an unmistakeable trail through the snow, which was useful for the purposes of keeping the little column of villagers on the same course despite the mist, but would also make it almost impossible for the Fire Nation soldiers behind them to mistake where they were going.

Despite Mai's worlds, Zuko was still wrestling with the question of whether this was good or bad news.

On the one hand, as a loyal son of the Fire Nation (and the Fire Lord) it was his clear duty to assist a Fire Navy expedition into foreign and hostile lands. The fact that he was in immediate proximity to one Water Tribe Chief, the daughter of the other Chief and the Avatar only made that obligation more urgent.

On the other, it was difficult not to look at the line of women ahead of him, or to think of the children drowsing on Kuku's back, without seeing other women and children. Those he had seen during his march through the Earth Kingdom. The women he had widowed, the children he had orphaned... and in some cases those that his soldiers had killed. And then there were more personal attachments: Mai had been a friend, potentially more than that; now she was a traitor to the Fire Nation. Yue had never wronged him - despite the fact that their nations were enemies she had actually shown more kindness to him than Mai had since they were reunited. And if Toph was not entirely the somewhat shy girl he had taught to take joy in her fire bending, she was the spirited child he had sensed inside her: passionate as fire, stubborn as the earth and somehow he suspected as perfectly suited to the other elements in her way.

It was hard to see enemies as people, and not as faceless beings as impersonal as the toy soldiers he had played with as a boy.

There was a whooshing sound in the distance behind them and Zuko half-twisted around to look, doing so complicated by the hood of his borrowed parka. He thought he could make out orange lights rising and falling in the distance: catapult shots. The ships were probably bombarding the empty village in preparation for - or in support of - an assault. It would depend how aggressive the commander was: would he hold his men back until the barrage softened up the objective or push them forward under its cover, risking them being hit by their own catapults? Both approaches had their adherents, but Zuko suspected that anyone willing to take time to harass such a tiny settlement would be very aggressive. There was a crash which he interpreted as a tent being struck directly by one of the flaming projectiles. The village had been evacuated just barely in time.

There was a grunt of surprise from beside Zuko and he turned his head again, seeing that Toph had halted for a moment and was stamping her feet deeper and deeper into the snowy ground. Mai, a half-step ahead of her sister, had also come to a halt. "This is no time for a toilet break, Toph."

Toph shook her head. "There are... people walking..." she said slowly and then used her free hand to point ahead and to the left, then to the right. "Heavy, they're either really huge guys or carrying a lot of weight. I can feel the vibrations through the ice."

"They must have sent forces out to encircle the village," Zuko guessed.

Mai looked at the women ahead of them. The column was already moving as fast as the oldest woman could walk. "Will they intercept us?" she asked Toph bluntly.

The girl considered. "There's an ice formation that will block the group to our left," she concluded. "Whichever way they go, they'll be behind us, but they'll see the trail. The other group will catch us though... unless, of course...?"

"Unless someone stops them," Mai concluded grimly. "You're not going to do anything, little sister. Fighting a battle is different from fighting a duel. Get the women moving as fast as possible: carry them if you have to." She released Toph's hand and stepped away, breaking into as near to a run as she could in the snow.

Toph automatically lunged after her, almost overbalancing in the unfamiliar boots. Zuko grabbed her by the shoulder of the parka, which almost slipped off of the girl as she tried to keep going. "No!" he shouted. "Mai knows what she's doing and she's trusting you to do your part."

"You tell them," Toph spat. "I'm going after my sister."

"Then I'll go with you," Zuko offered. The column would escape the group to the left, and he could order the group to the right to withdraw, with Mai and Toph in custody...

Toph reversed the hold suddenly, twisting to break his grip on her parka and reaching back to catch his wrist. "No chance. Mai's _also_ trusting me to keep you from running off, that sneaky witch!" She pushed him forwards after the last woman in the column. "Let's get this column moving." Ice began to move underneath her, almost clinging to her feet.

Zuko recognised the move as resembling the 'wave' of Earth that some earth benders used to travel: the ice flowing forward following the leg movements but far faster. Not anchored in the same way to the crest of the ice, he had to run on the moving ice to keep pace with the little girl, something that was complicated even more when the ice wave scooped up the rearmost woman in the column and Toph handed the elder off to him to support.

Mai had disappeared into the mists and Zuko felt the same fear that had touched him outside Omashu when she and Toph had vanished from his sight there.

.oOo.

The mist was beginning to clear by the time that they reached Kuku and Bato, who was leading the huge bison through the snow covered ice with confidence borne of long knowledge of the area.

"Toph!" Yue called, trying to keep her voice low in deference to the chance that the wind might carry her words to the enemy. "Are you deliberately trying to burn yourself out?"

"It was necessary," Zuko called back before Toph, who was sweating dangerously given the low temperatures, could sling an insult back. Seeing she had been pre-empted, the girl instead hastily began bending the sweat away from her body and out of her furs. "The Fire Nation tried to encircle us, we need to press on because if they haven't picked up the trail yet it's only a matter of time."

Yue looked at the cluster of women on top of the ice wave. "Where's Mai?"

"Buying time," Zuko said shortly, not wasting time telling her what the usual cost of that purchase was.

"She'll probably catch us up fairly soon," Toph said confidently. "Probably demanding directions to a blacksmith that can restock her personal hoard of sharpness."

Bato stared south. "There's an absolute maze of broken ice most of a day's walk south of here," he announced. "Once we're in there, the Fire Nation can't possibly catch us. Yue, is the mist thin enough for Kuku to risk flying?"

The princess looked around. She could see a fair distance. "We can risk it," she said grudgingly.

"Take the younger children and their mothers first then," Bato ordered. "We'll make what speed we can: from the air you shouldn't have too much trouble finding us."

Yue almost offered to take the older women along with the younger children and then realised the harsh logic: however much the elders would slow down the column, children and the women of child-bearing age were the ones who had to survive, if the water tribe was to survive. "I'll be back as soon as I can," she promised, helping the first of the older children down.

Toph pushed steps up out of the ice before relaxing and sitting down on the now solid ice wave. "I haven't done that much bending in months," she noted, a cocky smile flickering onto her face. "Yue's spirit water did the trick. Never mind being the Avatar, the Blind Bandit is back. Ass is going to get kicked."

"The blind what?" Bato asked in confusion.

"The Blind Bandit!" Toph declared proudly. "It was my fighting name back when I was a gladiator. Had to quit when my parents found out. Just about the most fun I ever had before Mai taught me to throw knives."

Bato shrugged and slapped Kuku's flank. "Get on with you," he ordered, stepping aside to let Yue urge the sky bison up off the ice and into the air. "Somehow I'd never envisaged the Avatar being some kind of staged fighter."

"Well they were kind of wusses. Not sure how the Pebble fell in with Jet. He was about the best of them but it's not saying a whole lot." Toph shrugged and touched the ice. "Do you see Mai anywhere out there?"

"No," Bato told her gently. "And there's a good chance you won't see her again."

"I don't accept that," Toph said flatly.

"Life isn't what we want sometimes," the warrior counselled her. "If it were, we wouldn't have been at war for a hundred years."

"That cuts both ways," Toph told him and started walking in the opposite direction to the water tribe. "I'm going to go get her."

Bato paused and then looked at his own people. "And what will you do other than endanger yourself, Avatar? You cannot fight an entire army. Not alone. You'll be killed and then who will stand against the Fire Nation?"

Toph's smile grew cold. "I will not turn my back on my sister. Maybe it's what the Avatar should do, but I never claimed to care about that."

The water tribe chief looked appealingly at Zuko as the only remaining influence he could see upon Toph.

"I'll go with her," the fire bender declared, turning around and striding after his onetime student.

"Oh no you don't!" Bato called, hefting a spear. "It's bad enough she's going that way, without taking you along. I don't trust your loyalties."

"Relax," Toph called back. "I trust him. And I'm an excellent judge of character."

"You are?" Zuko asked, reflecting on his own uncertainty.

Toph grinned confidently and privately wondered what Zuko would ultimately decide.


	11. Chapter Ten

"Hello the Navy!" sang out an unfamiliar voice from outside the shattered village, distracting Zhao momentarily from his fury. Who precisely had bungled his plan to catch the village unaware, he was not yet certain, but there could be no other explanation for the fact that the place had been evacuated before his force had reached it. The fact that one of his flanking forces had taken casualties subduing one lone woman, had markedly shortened the fuse of his temper.

"Whoever that is, find out which sentry he got past and have him flogged," the Admiral ordered harshly, striding towards the nearest breach in the village's wall.

What he saw was a young girl, details lost in oversized winter gear, arms pinned behind her back by a broad-shouldered young man in a water tribe parka the hood thrown back to reveal a familiar but unexpected face. "Admiral Zhao," Zuko said calmly, as if there was nothing remotely out of the ordinary about a royal prince emerging from a frozen wilderness with a captive child. "Your attack came at an opportune moment."

"How nice," Zhao replied insincerely. "I trust we didn't interrupt you doing anything important," he added with a nod towards the girl.

Zuko's lips thinned at the implication that the older man was making, but he bit back a hot response. "I suppose that that would depend on what priority my father places on capturing the Avatar."

Zhao's eyes widened. Killing the Avatar would win any man great renown in the court of the Fire Lord, but that would be as nothing to someone bringing the Avatar before Ozai. After all, a dead Avatar would simply be reborn but a captive Avatar could be kept alive for decades, removing their interference for at least a generation. And that was besides the enormous damage that the news would do to the morale of the Earth Kingdom. With the Earth King a recluse inside his palace, the notion of an earth bender Avatar leading the war against the Fire Nation had captured the imagination of the remaining free kingdoms. For the Avatar to be brought to her knees would have shattering effect.

"This is the Avatar?" he asked, feigning scepticism. "She doesn't look impressive."

"Well she would only be twelve," Zuko pointed out coolly. "And unless you have another idea how she could bend both fire and ice...?"

"Far be it from me to cast aspersions upon your accomplishment," Zhao conceded. "I've set up my headquarters here until we find the villagers." There's no way I'm letting this spoiled brat make a triumphal return to the Fire Nation on the back of capturing a half-trained little girl. He gestured for Zuko to walk alongside him back into the ruined village, the younger fire bender forcing Toph to stumble in front of him, bent over

Zuko frowned. "Yes, I gather that you didn't manage to establish a perimeter to catch them?"

"One flank was intercepted by a defector," explained Zhao. "By they time they had her subdued, the villagers were past them. We have a trail though, and they can't have made it far."

"Far be it from me to interfere in your hunt for water tribe peasants," Zuko assured him with a smirk, turning Zhao's words back upon him. "I'm requisitioning one of your ships to return to the capital, so you may want to call in reinforcements. There must be almost a dozen of them: I wouldn't want you to feel... disadvantaged. After all if one woman can cause so much difficulty for you, I hate to think what your losses would be against ten times that many."

Zhao could almost imagine a film of red descending between the two of them, his temper provoked by the obvious taunt. "Well this was a very special young woman," he told the young man. "A defector, as I said. It was obvious from the moment we got a good look at her that she was from the Fire Nation, perhaps even highly born." His lips thinned. "No doubt her family will be disgraced when it is learned that she was fighting on behalf of the water savages."

"Oh?" There was the faintest flicker of emotion on Zuko's face. "Do you know her identity?"

Zhao paused a moment. What led Zuko to hesitate? Did he know who the girl was? It would make sense if there were two Fire Nation nobles somehow down here at the South Pole then they might know of each other. Might even be leverage against each other. "Not yet," he said. "No one has recognised her face. Of course, once she awakens we can simply extract the information. There are ways to loosen a woman's tongue." Definite emotion. The little princeling had some scruples it seemed. How convenient. "We cannot allow treason of this nature, your highness."

"I am aware of that," Zuko confirmed somewhat hollowly. "Perhaps I should take a look: after all, I have met quite a number of the nobility so I might know her face."

.oOo.

"Where's the Avatar?" Yue blurted the moment that Kuku settled to the ground next to the villagers.

Bato shook her head. "She turned back to look for sister. I couldn't exactly drag her..."

The water bender's face fell. "That wilful girl! Doesn't she listen to anyone?"

"Just her sister, I think," Bato admitted ruefully. "The fire bender went with her."

Princess Yue hopped down from Kuku's back and began creating steps for the remaining children and their mothers to climb aboard. It would take at least two trips to evacuate the rest of the village, but without Kuku walking with them, at least the trail they were leaving was less remarkable. Bato had also led them off at an angle that did not lead towards the ice field he had picked out as a refuge. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad: Mai knows him best and she has some serious doubts about his loyalties."

"The two of you talked about him?" Bato asked curiously. "I thought that women only did that about men that they were interested in."

"Well he is a bit of a character..." Yue admitted and then glared at him. "Wait a minute! When you say interested, what exactly are you implying?"

"Just... 'interested'," Bato said with a little smirk. He'd known Yue since she was a little girl, after all and while she hardly told him everything, he was fairly sure he didn't recall her ever talking about a boy her own age before. And it was kind of amusing watching her blush over the suggestion that she might be interested in the... Fire Lord's... son...

Okay, no, that wasn't amusing at all.

"It's a bit strange just talking to someone from the Fire Nation, much less one of their soldiers," he dodged. "I don't suppose anyone from either of the water tribes has done that since the war began."

"That's true," agreed Yue. "Apparently the Fire Nation are taught that they started the war to share their prosperity and culture with the rest of the world. Did none of them think that it might be better to do so through talking, rather than waging war?"

"I don't claim to understand them," Bato shrugged. "Perhaps that's what the Avatar is here to do."

The two of them looked at each other and tried to envisage Toph as a diplomatic bridge between the water tribe and the Fire Nation. The image did not come naturally to either of them.

"Perhaps not," Yue said. "And she may never fulfil her destiny if she dies out there."

Bato shrugged his shoulders and helped the last child up the steps. "Yue, how do we know that going out there _isn't_ Toph's destiny? Assuming that she has one and isn't just muddling through life one day at the time the way the rest of us do?"

"Bato, she's the Avatar! Of course she has a destiny."

"So was it the destiny of Kanna's predecessor to abandon us all for forty years and allow a hundred years of war?" Bato asked. "Or was the war the punishment levied for his refusal to face his destiny? It seems a little extreme."

Yue stared at him. "It was his duty, his destiny, to prevent the war," she declared. "He turned away from that: we cannot allow Toph to make the same mistake."

"Well at least she's heading towards a fight," quipped Bato and waved the now much diminished column - almost exclusively the old now - to start walking again.

"But will she manage to walk away?" Yue wondered out loud, and then yipped to urge Kuku into the air once more.

.oOo.

Mai looked up from the post she was tied to when Zhao returned to her field of vision. Ironically, the pole had been part of the same tent that she had rested in earlier. The Fire Nation soldiers were unfortunately thorough: they'd stripped her of dart launchers and almost every knife on her person. Only the fact that stripping her completely would have killed her too fast for the Admiral's liking had allowed her to still hide a pair of small knives and neither was somewhere she could reach while bound. As such she'd forced herself to relax, to preserve her strength for what opportunities might arise.

The procession that followed Zhao made clear just how important those opportunities would be: he was escorted by four soldiers but it was the other two figures that caught her attention. Zuko, forcing Toph before him, fingers cruelly tight about her wrists. Zuko just barely caught the slightest movement betraying her surprise - Zhao, not knowing her so well, didn't.

"Well here's our traitoress," he boasted, glaring down at her. "You've earned yourself a traitor's death, girl. And I may pass you around my men, in repayment for those you injured."

"She's familiar alright," Zuko observed. "One of my sister's schoolmates... one of her especial cronies in fact... Have you offended Azula lately, Zhao? I wouldn't put it past her to have arranged this to get an assassin close to you."

Zhao shrugged. "To the contrary, your sister and I are on excellent terms, " he protested. "And the girl was stripped of all weapons when she was captured."

"Are you sure of that?" asked Zuko and pushed Toph towards the Admiral. "Hold onto the larger prize for a moment, Admiral." He waited until Toph was securely held before striding over to Mai and thrust one hand boldly into her clothes.

Involuntarily, Mai gasped in anger and fought down the urge to use her limited mobility to try to kick him. She didn't have the reach or the leverage and she knew it. It would be undignified to fail. Masked from sight by Zuko's torso her eyes widened perceptibly as she felt the last of her knives moving in their hiding place.

A moment later, Zuko removed his hand, holding one of her remaining knives. "Perhaps your men are less diligent than you expected, Admiral. Intentionally perhaps?"

Zhao examined the weapon in Zuko's hand. "Perhaps. A fortunate escape for someone. I seem to be having a day of mixed fortune. All things considered, the good outweighs the ill perhaps. Particularly, as you put it, the greater prize." He tightened his own grip upon Toph and she broke the sullen silence she had maintained so far with a pained gasp. "My prize."

"_Your_ prize?" Zuko snapped, dropping the knife. "Remember your place, Admiral. The Avatar is _mine_."

"You think I'll let a dead prince take the credit for this?" Zhao sneered. "Secure him," he ordered the soldiers. "I wasn't sent here to rescue you, your highness," he explained as the four fire benders. "Just to punish those who had killed you. I don't see any reason to confuse the issue by having you return from the dead. Tidier to let the water tribe take the blame... and to take the credit for capturing the Avatar _myself_."

Zuko spread his feet and glanced around the four soldiers spreading out around him. "You think you can simply murder the Fire Lord's only son? Are you insane?"

"Are you protesting or quoting some line from a second-rate romance scroll your mother read to you as a boy?" Zhao asked him. "I think your next line would be: 'You'll never get away with this, Zhao'? Try it out, see if you like saying it."

"I will kill you," Zuko grated, shifting position to try to keep the four soldiers in view. Mai reached for the last knife. Zuko snatching the other had moved it just enough that she could touch it with the tips of her fingers. Carefully she teased it towards her grasp.

Zhao smiled smugly. "Now now, don't be like that. You wouldn't want -" he twisted Toph's arms cruelly and she cried out again. "- the Avatar to get hurt, now would you?"

"So this is the great Admiral Zhao," Zuko snarled derisively. "Hiding behind a little girl. Disgraceful." He turned and so deliberately that it didn't occur to anyone to stop him, hurled a powerful blast of fire into the soldier working around his left side, hurling the stunned man back through the wreckage of one of the tents. "You're going to need more soldiers," the prince advised grimly.

"I _have_ more soldiers," Zhao returned. "RALLY ON ME!" he roared and commotion arose through the camp as Fire Nation soldiers rushed to obey. The knife finally came close enough for Mai to grasp and she started working at her bonds, careful to keep the motion hidden from the two opposing fire benders.

The three soldiers already on the scene converged upon Zuko, who took to the offensive, jumping forwards to kick the one between him and Zhao firmly in the face. The metal mask probably saved the hapless soldier from losing several teeth but he went over like a skittle and didn't stand up. Landing on his hands, Zuko whipped his legs around and smashed a wave of fire into the other two soldiers: not enough to fell them now that they were alerted but buying him time to flip to his feet. Grabbing the collar of his parka, he used the sharp dagger to slash through the thick material, creating a rent along the front. A savage yank tore the bulky garment open and he shrugged free of it. He'd need his mobility if he was going to survive the coming battle.

Zhao prepared to back up with his prize when the Avatar suddenly shifted in his hands, pulling her knees up against her legs. Her body pivoted on her shoulders and he barely recognised what she was doing in time to release her, rolling with the impact as she jack-knifed, driving her soft-soled boots back into him. His armour protected him from serious injury, in fact the strike barely pushed him back a half-step but the much smaller Toph almost rocketed forwards, driving herself face-first into the ice at Zuko's feet.

"Graceful," Zuko noted, backing up to give her room to stand. Behind him, Mai felt the ropes part and tested her freedom.

"Shove it," Toph spat, climbing to her feet. "So, are you over your conflicting loyalties yet or does Zhao need to drive the nail in further?"

"You're the one who claims to be the great judge of character," he said. "You tell me."

"Tell _us_," Mai said shortly, rising to her feet and joining them as more soldiers closed in, forming a rough circle around the three of them. She was gratified to see Zuko flinch when she moved closer, then turned her back upon him, watching the encircling troops and wishing she had more than just the one knife.

Toph grinned. "You're with us," she said confidently to Zuko as she pulled her own dagger out from beneath her parka and lent it back to Mai. "Not very flattering that it took a death threat to get you to pick a side, but I'm feeling generous." She swept an arm around to indicate the soldiers. "Speaking of which:" the earth bender raised her voice. "If you boys turn around and run away right now, we might spare your lives."

Zhao laughed. "I know you're only a child," he replied. "But surely you know how to count. Look around you - I have you outnumbered twenty to one."

Toph waved her hand across her face. "Blind," she explained. Only Mai noticed how the hand-gesture distracted attention from the way that Toph was moving her feet, or the way she was balanced.

The Admiral's eyes went wide. "You have a talent for lost causes, _your highness_," he called to Zuko. "First you actually imagine that you're a rival for your sister and cousin in the succession, and now you throw in your lot with a blind Avatar? How humiliating."

"You're forgetting history, Admiral," Mai told him, not looking back from where she was watching for the first moves of attack amongst the soldiers at their backs. The three of them would have to react instantly and aggressively for any attack, for a passive defence against fire benders was suicidal: they would be bathed in fire from all directions. "It took three entire armies to bring Avatar Kanna to bay, and three Fire Lords to bring her down. And you're no Fire Lord."

"That may change," Zhao told him. "Your sister may be in the market for a consort after all. But enough about me." He took a fire bending stance. "Your young Avatar is a child, blind and half trained. What took the supreme effort of the Fire Kingdom was a fully realised Avatar, quite a different matter."

"You're right," Toph admitted candidly, lowering her face. "I'm not Kanna. And this is different." She shuffled her feet.

"Toph..." Zuko said, trying to think of some encouragement to give her. This was no time to crack up.

"Kanna was all a water bender. They're all about retreat and counterattack," Toph continued. "I'm an Earth bender... my speciality is neutral jin: to wait and to listen for the right moment." And then she crouched suddenly, slamming both palms into the ice either side of her.

For a moment nothing happened.

And then forty Fire Nation soldiers disappeared into the ice with startled cries, the ice sheet collapsing into deep pits beneath them, frigid arctic waters surging up the holes to meet them. Weighted down by their armour, they sank rapidly. Toph rose smoothly into a wide-legged stance and as her hands lifted, the ice closed over the soldiers, condemning them to their icy graves.

Fear swept elation from Zhao's face and in that instant, Zuko hurled himself forwards at him. Mai also leapt forwards, towards the nearest soldier than Toph hadn't caught in her ambush, having already identified the weak spots where even her small blades could pose a lethal threat.

For her part, Toph remained where she was. Her smile was chilling. "Who else wants some?" she asked quietly, barely audible as the fight erupted around her. One of the soldiers took a step towards Mai's back and Toph's finger lunged to point at him. "You, well volunteered." She stamped her foot and a boulder of ice literally leapt out of the ground in response. A thrust, starting at the hips and ending with her hand sent the boulder hurtling into the soldier, who was smashed from his feet by the deadly projectile.

"Next?" she asked in a little girl voice. Most of the Fire Nation's soldiers were made of sterner stuff than to flee even this threat, but two younger men proved to be exceptions, racing for the edge of the village nearest to the three ships. "Wrong answer." The perimeter wall of ice _flowed_ - first closing the breaches one by one and then slowly growing taller and thicker - as Toph concentrated upon her bending.

.oOo.

Zhao allowed Zuko to push him back. Even to himself he refused to admit that the younger fire bender was proving a challenge. No, this was a tactical move. Clearly the young Avatar was a formidable opponent and it would be best to take her measure via his more expendable soldiers (and compared to himself he couldn't think of any of them that weren't expendable) and wear her down a little before he faced her.

And first he'd deal with the upstart princeling, he decided, punching out towards Zuko, who ducked aside from the fire that flowed out of Zhao's hand. Not that stopped the young man from focusing his fire into a whip and sending it crackling through the air to snare for an instant one of Zhao's ankles. The fire was too diffuse at that distance to scorch through the larger man's books, but it brought his retreat to a sudden halt as he was yanked from his feet. Rather than resisting the fall he threw himself into it, rolling to his feet and facing his enemy.

"You're a fool Zhao," Zuko spat. "You're a perfect match for the pit of vipers that father keeps around him and you're equally worthless. If the high command didn't waste their energy fighting each other we'd have conquered the world in my grandfather's day!"

"It's you that's a fool. Conflict makes us strong," asserted Zhao, catching his breath. "A man who fights his way to the head of the Fire Nation's army will find it easy to defeat mere earth or water benders!"

Zuko shook his head. "If you'd been able to resist the urge to bite at me just once, the Avatar would be a prisoner, not carving her way through your men. Tell me that you think that that is an improvement!" He raised his fists. "Alright. Enough talk. We'll do it your way."

Zhao easily brushed aside the burst of fire that the prince threw at him. "Your sister has mastered blue fire. And even lightning. You? Was that all that you can do?" He hurled his own attacks forward and Zuko twisted his upper body to avoid them, letting the heat flow past him into the air. Vaporised ice was beginning to form a mist of steam within the confines of the walls as the remaining fire benders amongst Zhao's men drew upon their fire to combat their three opponents.

The two continued exchanging blows, fire marking their blows. Zhao relied on his greater mass and experience to break apart Zuko's attacks while the younger man chose to rely more upon his agility, staying clear and refusing to commit close enough to allow his larger opponent to land any telling strikes.

Of course a side effect of this difference in styles meant that Zhao's relatively static position was warming up nicely since all the heat from attacks he broke up had to go somewhere, while Zuko who let them go past him, was still relatively cool despite his exertion. As a result there was an actual shine of sweat on Zhao's forehead despite the cold.

"Are you a fire bender or an air bender?" the Admiral taunted. "I thought you were going to fight me, not dance around like a lemur."

Zuko said nothing, instead throwing himself into a wheel kick that hurled trailers of fire, no more than a nuisance to Zhao who batted it away with trivial ease, extinguishing it in the slushy ice at his feet. "Take this seriously!" he roared and gathered his strength, raising walls of fire either side of Zuko forcing the flames to sustain themselves from his chi in the absence of any fuel. Penned in, Zuko held his ground and with a deep breath raised his own line of fire behind Zhao, creating an open-ended box around the Admiral with himself standing at the open end.

They paused for a moment, silently wrestling for control of the intersections where their two fires met. Zhao was pleased to finally find Zuko committing his strength to the contest... but he was less happy to find that the Prince's strength sufficient to seize control of the corners and bend them into a semi-circle around the older fire bender. In response Zhao brought the ends of his own walls together, closing the circle behind Zuko. Fire surrounded them and Zhao then filled the gap between them with more fire, controlling the walls with his hands while he kicked out, hurling a ball of fire at his adversary.

Zuko hurled himself into a forward somersault, fire gathering at his feet and then hurtling towards Zhao as he kicked his legs out. For an instant the Admiral thought that the younger man had mistaken his timing, unleashed his fire when he had rolled too far, the flames crashing down short of Zhao. And then, too late, he realised what struck the ice was not only Zuko's fire, but also his own, hurled back by the greater fury of the prince's flames.

Before his feet could hit the ice Zuko thrust his hands down and fire roared downwards, hurling him upwards and over Zhao's fire wall like a rocket. And inside the circle of fire the ice melted, dropping Zhao waist deep in tepid water. Fearing the same water grave that had welcomed his men, Zhao lowered his guard to wade desperately for the edge of the ring.

In that opening, Zuko came down on him like a meteor, fire roaring around him. It was the sort of overly dramatic move that only an amateur would risk - and therefore the last thing that Zhao expected. He was smashed flat against the bottom of the water pool, air driven from his lungs and replaced by water as he gasped reflexively. Almost as debilitating was the water that flooded through his clothes - submerged completely - soaking him to the bone.

Zuko sprang forwards out of the water, his leap driving Zhao harder against the ice, and rolled through the guttering fires of the encircling walls that were now collapsing without the attention of the fire benders. He drew on his inner fire to heat himself as much as he dared, almost scorching his legs as he bent the remainder of the fires that the two of them had generated to dry his trousers and boots before the cold could cause him injury.

In the water, coughing and choking, Zhao was unable to match the feat. Wet clothes and armour dragged him down and the water was already beginning to solidify around him. Unable to breathe properly, he could not fire bend.

Looking around, Zuko could see no obvious threats to concern himself. Two Fire Nation soldiers were in view but neither looked particularly threatening, lying unmoving on the ground. Judging by the bloody snow beneath the neck of one of them, they might never move again. The massive walls of ice around the village continued to rise, indicating that Toph was not only still active but apparently felt so unthreatened that she was playing to test the limits of her recovering strength. As the village was now almost covered by a dome of ice easily forty metres across, it wasn't clear if she had any.

Zhao stared up at the prince he had belittled, now the only person who could possibly save him. He would not beg. Not even if it meant his death.

Zuko stared down at the admiral he had brought low, wondering if the man would ask for aid. And if he would offer it if it was requested.

.oOo.

"Are you done playing?" Mai asked Toph when the dome over the village was complete... and not incidentally, the only moving beings inside it were the two girls and Zuko.

Toph grinned in a disturbingly happy way for someone who had just dismembered a small raiding party's worth of the Fire Nation's navy. "I'm not playing, I'm bending," she said with manifest insincerity.

"My mistake." Mai looked around and saw Zuko walking towards them. "I'm going to have to thank him," she said grudgingly.

"Don't feel obligated," advised Toph. "He was seriously tempted to take us home in chains. If Zhao hadn't decided to grab for power, even I don't know what he would have opted for."

"Most people would say 'even he didn't know', little sister."

"Yes, but I'm awesome like that," Toph reminded her sister. "It's not like you to forget these things, are you feeling well?"

Mai frowned. "Clearly I haven't spent enough time with you."

Toph took her hand, much as she had done when they were walking south only a few hours before. "Well, I'm sure that Yue and Bato are worried so let's go and explain how silly they are," she said lightly. "Did you find your pointy toys?"

"Yes, thank you," Mai said, using her free hand to adjust the sheaths that she had returned to their proper places. The dart launchers were wrapped in a bundled cloak from one of the soldiers - one of the incompetent barbarians had dropped them in snow and now she would have to disassemble them entirely and clean them before they could be relied upon. She reached across her body and returned Toph's own dagger, which the little girl solemnly returned to its sheath.

Zuko joined them as they walked to the edge of the village. Rather than simply opening a hole in the dome, Toph started drawing ice up into steps along the side.

"Uh... what are you doing?" the fire bender asked. "Why not just go through the wall here?" He pointed at it.

"Feel free to," Toph shrugged. "But it would be polite to wait until Mai and I are above the level of the water outside."

Zuko stared at the wall, then at the ice beneath his feet. "Water outside? Why would there be water out...side...? You _didn't_?"

Toph grinned cockily. "You don't think I could just move all this ice without consequences did you? The entire village is a separate iceberg now - we're still surrounded by the old ice sheet for now, but there's a decent gap and I wouldn't be surprised if parts of that come apart as well."

"And we've sinking?"

"Just a bit," Toph assured him calmly. "There's something odd about how ice floats on water, I haven't figured it out yet but moving ice up to form the walls pushed the ground down... odd, but useful since it's probably the main reason that the ships haven't managed to hit us with their catapults yet."

Mai blinked. "Catapults?"

"I guess so. It's either that or the birds around here have really huge droppings."

Zuko nodded slowly. I'm beginning to understand why her parents were scared of her bending. It was wrong, yes, but I have to admit: Azula would have been much more bearable at this age if mother could have removed her fire bending or at least held the threat over her head. And Toph must be even more of a prodigy than Azula if she's this good at water bending without any formal training.

It only took a few moments for Toph to finish the stairs but by the end Mai could feel the slightest of tremors in the fingers she held clasped in her hand. While she had recovered much of her former strength, or perhaps more - it was difficult for Mai to compare, having never seen Toph in her Blind Bandit days - it was clear that bending such huge masses had been something of a strain for her.

Taking the height of the steps as a guide, Zuko gulped at the realisation that had he opened a hole in the dome with his fire bending, the inside of the dome would have flooded to well above his head height with frigid water. Mutely he followed the two girls up to the small platform Toph had created against the inside wall. With a degree of artistic flair, Toph pressed one hand briefly against the ice and an arch formed, the ice that had previously filled that part of the wall tilting over to form a bridge most of the way to the ice outside. A moment later, the far side of the moat that had formed around the village deformed and rose into the other end of the bridge.

The icescape was much as it had been when Zuko walked across it to reach the village, Toph in semi-captivity in front of him. There were even a couple of soldiers in Fire Nation red watching them in disbelief. A couple of blackened rocks embedded in the ice, still smoking from the flames applied to them before launch from a catapult, were new additions though.

"Just leave," Mai told the two soldiers in disgust and the two men stared at her for a long moment, expressions hidden behind their metal facemasks, before they broke and ran off to the left, clearly planning to circle the village and make their way back to the ships.

"Merciful," observed Toph.

"They didn't see anything," Mai explained. "It's obvious that there was a powerful water bender here, but no one can report who you are, with Zhao and all the immediate troops dead." She noted a guilty expression flit furtively across Zuko's face. "He _is_ dead, isn't he?"

Zuko looked away. "Yes," he lied. How he'd managed to survive in court without learning to tell a convincing untruth escaped Mai's understanding.

"Leave him," Toph ordered contemplatively. It was not a tone that Mai was used to hearing from her sister and she looked down at the smaller girl, voicelessly requiring justification for the decision. Toph smiled - less cocky but perhaps more confidently that the smile Mai was more accustomed to - and elaborated. "I'm not the one he betrayed. If Zuko prefers he be left alive to claim Zuko is a traitor then I'm fine with it."

"Don't substitute tactics for strategy," Mai warned, a chill going down her spine as they continued to walk away. Zhao alive, the Fire Nation alerted to a new Avatar, to Toph's name and to her face...

Toph nodded her head. "Let them know fear," she said with what could pass for tranquillity to one unfamiliar with the signs that the young Avatar was experiencing pleasant anticipation. "Besides," and she looked sideways at Zuko, "It's nice to know that now that he's made his choice he will stick to it."

Mai nodded her understanding. With all witnesses gone, Zuko might still have been able to return home. But Zhao would no doubt blacken the prince's name out of sheer spite. Whatever else happened, the rift between Zuko and the Fire Nation had become known and irreversible.


	12. Chapter Eleven

The grand hall of the Northern Water Tribe's city (located further south than any of the relative handful of Southern Water Tribe settlements was crammed with members of both tribes as Yue recounted the encounter with the Fire Nation, or more precisely as she prodded Mai, Toph and Zuko to relate their various parts in the story.

None of the three were natural orators but in some ways the very understated nature of remarks such as: "just bent the ice out from under them while Zuko was trash talking with Zhao" made more impact than any exaggerated bragging could have. Plainly, none of them felt any need to embroider the story - Zuko in fact seemed outright reluctant to talk at all and Toph was amused at the female hearts beating faster when Yue persuaded him to explain how he had defeated Zhao.

There were two seats on the broad dais, one occupied by the erect, regal Chief Arnook, who seemed torn between paternal pride and the urge to ground Yue on hearing of how - once all the villagers were all safe - she had returned almost to the village on Kuku, in order to retrieve the three travellers. Slouched on the other throne was Bato, who amused himself by watching the reactions of the gathered crowd.

"I believe I speak for my fellow Chief when I welcome you to our city," Arnook said solemnly. "Your victory over the Fire Nation will inspire all those who stand against their tyranny."

Zuko winced.

"Your own deeds, Prince Zuko and Lady Mai, offer hope of eventual reconciliation between the four nations," the aged Chief continued diplomatically. "Naturally, the full resources of the Northern Water Tribe are at your disposal, Avatar Toph. How may we serve you?"

"My plans are a little unrefined," Toph admitted. "For now, I need to improve my bending as quickly as I can. Yue has kindly offered her assistance as an instructor in water bending and there's Sifu Broody over here to work with me on fire bending but that leaves one of the four bending arts and I'm not enthused about herding sky bison to pick up hints about air bending. Sozin's Comet is only a few months away."

Gasps arose from the gathered audience and Bato straightened on his throne. "You're sure?" he asked amusement falling away.

"You didn't know?" Zuko answered, his surprise obvious. "It'll be in the sky at the end of the summer - well, the end of the winter in this part of the world. I imagine that it will be the cornerstone of my father's campaign plans for this year."

"Astronomy isn't a great concern of our people," Arnook said, somewhat defensively.

"I'm taking everyone's word for it," Toph said with the by now familiar wave of her hand in front of milky-green eyes. "What matters is that at the height of the summer - the northern summer, anyway - when fire benders are at their peak strength anyway, they'll have a few days when their power rises sharply. Everything I've ever heard about Ozai suggests he'll go for some grand gesture with that power to end the war on his terms. And his terms are going to involve phrases like 'utter subjugation' and 'complete extermination'."

"It was with such power that the Air Nomads were destroyed," Arnook reminded everyone mournfully. "Should he seek to commit genocide once more, an attack here could end the Water Tribes forever."

Toph shrugged. "He may have other things on his mind," she declared. "Me, for one thing."

"You'll protect us from the Fire Nation? On your own?" asked a sceptical voice from the crowd.

"Nope," Toph said cheerfully. "No one wins a fight by waiting for the other side to hit them. I'm going to go after him."

Bato reached over and grabbed Arnook's arm before the older chief could object to the plan. "She's right," he said in a low voice that would not be heard by those on the main floor. "And even if she wasn't, she's the Avatar. We don't have the right to tell her what to do."

Yue looked at her father who nodded slightly. "We have a small cache of air bending scrolls that the Avatar Kanna left with us," she revealed. "I believe that she created many such caches, placing them in trusted hands, for use by her successors in situations just like that."

.oOo.

Azula walked up the gang plank of Lu Ten's flagship in something of a temper. "You've just pulled me out of a very delicate stage in the negotiations with Long Feng."

"You've been at 'a very delicate stage in the negotiations' for over a month," Lu Ten said and smiled at Ty Lee as the acrobatic young woman arrived at the top. "Ty, it's good to see you."

She bowed and saluted him formally before breaking with formality and bouncing forward to hug him. Around the deck, the crew of Lu Ten's flagship either looked discreetly away from the scandalous display of affection or smiled approvingly.

"Tell me that you didn't bring me all the way out here just so the two of you could make out," demanded Azula, crossing her arms across her chest and trying not to sound petulant.

"I didn't," assured Lu Ten, a grim look crossing his handsome face despite the delightful armful that he had. "Your father has sent an urgent message. There has been a serious development in the south and I'm pulling the entire Northern Fleet out of our forces here to respond to it."

"What!" Azula screeched. "Do you have any idea how badly that will undermine my position?"

"The orders of the Fire Lord are not open to debate," Lu Ten reminded her, just a little smugly. "We'll discuss this inside." He led them into the conning tower of his flagship, opening the door of the map room for the two ladies to precede him inside.

Azula claimed Lu Ten's usual chair at the table for herself but Lu Ten went to the other end, holding out a chair for Ty Lee before taking the seat at the far end, placing his lover at his left hand in a non-too-subtle reminder to Azula of that particular point he had supposedly scored over her. Once they were all seated, Lu Ten lifted an unremarkable looking message scroll from the table and slid it over to the princess who examined the broken seal, recognising the two halves as bearing the discreet markers that indicated it originated directly from the Fire Lord.

She read it silently, ignoring the fact that Ty Lee had taken Lu Ten's hand in hers or the none-too-discreet way that their legs were moving against each other. It was rather nauseating in her opinion, although the ease with which Ty Lee was leading her cousin along was confirming many of Azula's long held opinions on the handling of men. The contents of the scroll quickly grasped her attention however.

"This is ridiculous," she declared when she reached the conclusion. "Father can _not_ be taking Zhao seriously. Even aside from the notion that he would be defeated by someone as inept as Zuzu, my brother has always taken loyalty to ridiculous extremes. For him to find common cause with a water bender, much less the Avatar - who would be all of twelve years old, for Agni's sake..."

"Quite," Lu Ten agreed. "I've received my own reports from the south, although copies of Zhao's despatches have not arrived yet." Not even to you, cousin, at least through the formal lines of communication. Lu Ten had compromised Azula's mail as a matter of course after she was safely distracted dealing with Long Feng. However, he was sure that she had arranged informal ways for her private correspondence to reach her just as automatically, which was one reason that he had not used the access to tamper, instead simply remaining informed.

Azula nodded thoughtfully. "Zhao is a proud man," she admitted thoughtfully. "He wouldn't report the incident if he could avoid looking weak. Which raises the question of what he was covering up." She looked questioningly at Lu Ten.

"If his ships were damaged then it had been made good before they reached port," the seafaring prince told her confidently. "I think we can accept that Zhao encountered some serious resistance on the ice - there were dozens of casualties, out of all proportion to what must have been a fairly small battle all things considered. Not much more than a skirmish but it's clear he didn't win it. As a commander, or as a warrior, since he's so badly injured he had to relinquish his command until he recovers."

"What about my brother or the Avatar?"

Lu Ten shrugged. "Hard to say. As you say, the new Avatar would only be a child and half-trained at best I can't see him making the claim if there's any chance that the Avatar might later refute it. And we've always known that there is a new Avatar. Sooner or later, we would encounter her."

"You don't say anything about my brother, I notice."

"It's awfully convenient for a capable fire bender - and while he might not be on the level of you or I, Zuko wasn't what most would call incompetent - believed to be dead to be suddenly helping the Avatar. I wouldn't be precisely surprised if we never heard anything of Zuko again. As you say, it would be very much out of character for him to turn traitor. Now if I do find him..."

"I don't see anything on here about you taking half the navy after the Avatar," Azula commented. "The presence of ships blockading Ba Sing Se is one of the visible threats I can use against Long Feng. Removing them will undermine my position, cousin."

Lu Ten spread his palms. "I'll need a large number of ships if I'm combing the entire South Pole for the Avatar," he pointed out. "I'm leaving several squadrons here under War Minister Qin's command." And _not_ under yours, dear cousin. "They have orders to make themselves very visible - and they'll be alternating their identification flags periodically to give the impression that there are more ships present than there actually are."

"I see," Azula said, reluctantly. Lu Ten's instructions gave him that much authority, however little she liked it. "So your orders are to capture them. Harder than killing them."

"But also more rewarding," he pointed out. "A captive Avatar removes her as a threat for as long as she lives: and we've been working out how to keep an Avatar alive and subdued ever since your grandfather confirmed the existence of Avatar Kanna fifty years ago. And once the war is over, she can simply... die, and the next Avatar will be born within the Fire Nation. Raised as one of us... and never, ever allowed to realise what they are."

.oOo.

"Will you do it?" Ty Lee asked quietly as she sat across Lu Ten's lap, head on his shoulder, several hours later. Azula had offered to allow her companion to accompany the prince, in case her talents for blocking chi were of use in apprehending his prey.

Despite the temptation to have her at his side, Lu Ten had declined. While Ty Lee was exceptionally skilled, she was far from the only master of those particular arts and he had pointed out that Azula would be in even more need of protection if Long Feng were to discover that the blockade had been weakened. Still, he would enjoy her company now, and hope to do so again in the future. Perhaps for many years, he thought, admitting to himself that he did more than merely enjoy her company.

"Do what?" he asked her, resting his arm casually around her waist. "Capture the Avatar? Marry you? Kill Azula? We have so many balls in the air, I'm beginning to think I won't be able to keep track of them for much longer."

"Marry me?" Ty Lee's eyes went wide. "Lu... is that a proposal?"

"Agni..." he murmured, realising what had slipped out. "I fail at romance _forever_." Unbidden, he moved his hand to rub gently at her back. "Yes... yes it was. Or rather: Ty Lee, you are by far the most wonderful woman that I have ever had the good fortune to meet. Would you do the honour of sharing the rest of -"

His proposal was cut off when she sat up straighter to kiss him on the lips. It felt like acceptance to Lu Ten, and he leaned into it, a small part of him wondering if this was how his father had felt about his mother. Everything that Prince Iroh had told his son about his marriage had suggested that it was a love match, that even as the heir to the throne, Azulon's firstborn son had managed to marry the woman he desired, not merely the most politically astute choice. It was a rare feat, even rarer under Ozai's rule. Lu Ten hoped his parents had been this happy: right now he wasn't sure if he would have cared if Ty Lee had elected to take the chance to follow Azula's instructions and assassinate him.

All too soon they had to part their lips, gasping for breath. "- our lives?" Lu Ten finished with humour in his eyes.

Ty Lee giggled and pressed her face against his neck. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes I will."

It was a while later before he asked: "So what were you asking if I would do?"

The girl rubbed lightly at his chest with one hand thinking back. "Zuko. Are you going to..."

Lu Ten closed his eyes for a moment. "If it is him, if he really is alive... I'll do what I can for him, but you know what the sentence is for treason." Death by fire, as slow as could be managed, which with fire benders in attendance could mean days. "If it comes to it, he'll die 'attempting to escape'," he promised. "It isn't much, but at least I can spare Lady Ursa having to watch."

It would have been the perfect moment for Ty Lee to kiss away his regrets, to tell him that they didn't matter. But that would have been a lie. Instead she shifted to sit on the table so that he could rest his head against her for a few precious moments, running her fingers through his hair. The regrets were a part of him, the most private part that she had found, and denying their weight would be to deny a part of her lover, her fiancé.

"Zuko's my favourite cousin," Lu Ten admitted after a long moment. "I suppose favourite doesn't sound like much when I'm comparing him to Azula but after... twelve years ago, when Lady Ursa took me into her household, he was almost a younger brother. But I found it easier to deal with the idea that he'd died on some unimportant battlefield than that he would be fighting with the Avatar against us."

"Lu," Ty Lee whispered, gently pulling at his top knot to make him look up at her. "People grow apart. I haven't talked to some of my sisters for more than two years, not even written to them. And it's natural that you find the idea of fighting against your cousin harder than the notion he was dead."

"I've spent years considering Azula's death," admitted the prince slowly. "At first I had to steel myself. After all this time, after seeing the sort of woman she's grown into, it has become very easy to contemplate the deed. Now I can plan how to kill Zuko, whose love and respect I have never questioned, and I find that it is not only Azula who has changed."

.oOo.

"There's earth under here," Toph said in astonishment as she walked with Zuko outside the city. While her lessons in water bending took place inside the city, where spaces had been set aside for training in those arts, there was enough uncertainty about what she would manage to do working with fire and air that Chief Arnook had very diplomatically asked that she practise outside the walls for now.

Thus far it hadn't been a concern. Learning from scrolls had certain obvious difficulties for Toph so progress on her air bending had been very slow. In fact, Zuko suspect that he, Yue and possibly even Mai were further along in mastering the forms even if they couldn't actually air bend, as a consequence of walking through the motions described on the scrolls for Toph to watch. "Really?" the fire bender asked, looking down at the ice. "I thought that the whole pole was just ice over water."

"I guess it must be an island or something," speculated Toph. "It's fairly deep, not the sort of thing anyone would come across unless they were looking for it." She smirked. "Or, of course, the world's greatest earth bender walked over it."

"Of course," Zuko agreed drily. "But we're here to work on your fire bending so let's get to that."

Toph pouted a little but obediently took up the stance that Zuko indicated and started moving through the forms with him. Although she had the bedrock of her previous experience gathered at Omashu, she hadn't made much more progress with her fire bending than she had at air bending. The extreme cold made it difficult to maintain any sort of heat and even without her previous handicap, she was producing only marginally stronger flames than she had back in Omashu.

Then again, Zuko had to admit, his own fires were nothing to be proud of these days. Since he had fought Zhao he had found it harder to produce the powerful flames needed in combat. He still wasn't sure what the problem was: despite the cold, he could still fire bend well enough to light fires, lanterns or to warm himself - which was a useful accomplishment in the frigid city, but the driving anger that he had been taught to draw from, that had pushed him to the levels of mastery he had shown during his campaign through the southern Earth Kingdom, now eluded him.

"This isn't going well," he admitted after working through the full sequence of forms that made up the core of the fire bending art. "You've adapted well to the forms, but the bending itself..."

"Are you sure that you aren't forgetting anything?" Toph asked. "Knowing that you fire benders have to stay angry all the time explains a lot, but that's not working for me."

Zuko frowned. "I don't think it's quite what you're thinking. I've seen you get frustrated or irritated, but what fire bending draws from is more like... well, rage I suppose. It's more passionate." He made a face. "Sometimes I wonder if Mai would have been a fire bender if she wasn't so controlled all the time."

"So you'd like it if Mai was more passionate?" Toph asked suspiciously and then snickered when Zuko blushed and stammered what was probably intended to be a denial but was actually completely incoherent. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that if there's one woman in all the city who's immune to your charms, it would be Mai."

"Thanks, I think," Zuko grumbled once his breathing was back to something approximating normal. "Well, if you think I'm missing something, why don't you ask another fire bender, if you can find one?"

Toph pulled one arm out of the sleeve of her new, better fitting parka and slipped it across her chest to scratch at an itch. "Sometimes even you have good ideas, Broody," she concluded.

"I was being sarcastic," he pointed out. "There aren't any other fire benders around to ask."

"Of course there is," Toph told him patronizingly. "I'll just ask your great-grandfather."

"My great... you mean Avatar Roku?"

The earth bender grinned broadly. "Well I don't mean Sozin. Having all those old goats hanging around in the spirit world is a bit annoying so they can make themselves useful for once." She took a few steps out across the ice, away from Zuko, then shifted her angle slightly and took a few more. "I'm going to get some earth to meditate on," she explained. "You might want to stand back a little."

Zuko gave her a nervous look and backed up a few paces. Then he reconsidered, turned around and ran about a hundred yards closer to the city before turning around to watch her. He just knew that she was laughing at him, but at the same time, he had a suspicion that watching Toph earth bend was something done best from a safe distance.

At first, to be honest, he wasn't very impressed. Toph was moving almost painfully slowly through an earth bending form he didn't recognise. Not that he was an expert, but he'd fought a few earth benders since his first arrival in the conquered territories. If she was raising a boulder through all the ice - no one seemed to have any idea how thick it was here - then she might be at it for a while. He turned around and looked at the city that so far as he knew, no one in the Fire Nation even suspected existed.

Zuko's first warning that Toph might be thinking on a slightly larger scale than he had anticipated was when the ice began to crack behind him. The noise drew his attention - it was hard to miss a crevasse longer than a fire navy cruiser forming almost instantly.

It was impossible to miss five such cracks forming in the ice.

"Toph!" he bellowed over the sound of shattering ice. "Whatever you're doing, stop!"

"Can't!" she called back, apparently unconcerned by the fact that boulders of ice larger than she was were being sent tumbling. She added something else but Zuko couldn't make it out as the section of ice he was on began to shake threateningly.

With a shout of frustration he ran - towards her, not the presumed safety of the walls. Mai hadn't said that there would be consequences if he returned from training without Toph. Then again, sometimes it was the things that Mai didn't say that mattered most.

If Toph hadn't been blind, he thought that she would have had her eyes screwed shut in concentration. As it was, her feet scraped on the ice, never breaking contact as she focused on whatever she was doing, far beneath the ice... although presumably not so far below as before. Her hands seemed to be working in opposition to each other, one moving upwards and the other downwards, then swapping roles.

"What are you doing?" he shouted as he closed in.

"Earth bending!" Toph yelled back happily. "Isn't it wild!"

"You're insane!" Zuko told her. Calmly. Rationally. At the top of his voice. "At this rate you'll destroy the city!"

"Don't be a worrywart. The hot rock is all over here, well away from the city."

Zuko's blood chilled. "'Hot rock'? What do you mean 'hot rock'?"

Toph grinned. "I found out working with Yue that it's easier to move water when it's water, not ice. And water's basically hot ice. So I'm heating up the rock to make it easier move it up through the ice. It's kind of odd - I'm losing a lot of heat when it melts the ice, but it's also rising almost all on its own now."

"When you say hot rock," asked Zuko, certain he wouldn't like the answer, "Do you mean hot enough that it flows like water?"

"Well almost."

"Toph, there's a word for rock when it's that hot: lava."

"Lava?" Toph rolled the word around her mouth. "Never heard of it."

"Here's another new word for you: volcano. It's what you're creating _right now_, right _underneath_ us. You have to stop this right now!"

To Zuko's relief, Toph stopped bending before asking: "What's a volcano?" The ice lurched alarmingly and she started bending a little. "Oh and that rising almost on its own? It's started rising entirely on its own. Lava's really enthusiastic."

"Do I want to know what's happening down there?"

"Ice turning into water. Water turning into steam. Lava rising and turning into... feels sort of like glass." She shrugged. "It is slowing down but it'll break the surface."

"Can you move it further away?" Zuko asked hopefully, envisaging the ice melting away beneath their feet, dropping them through boiling water and scalding steam onto molten lava... He grimaced.

Toph frowned and started making pushing gestures away from the city. "Alright already. It's not like it's going to be that hot when it's done coming through the ice."

"Define hot," Zuko pointed out. "Rock has to be a lot hotter than ice does before it starts to melt."

"I figured that out myself," Toph agreed. "That's why I'm using ice to cool it. What do you think I am, stupid?"

"You were creating a volcano right underneath your own feet."

"And you keep saying that like it's a bad thing."

"Agni help us, no wonder the tradition is not to tell Avatars who they are before they're sixteen. I'm not sure if the world will survive you passing through puberty." The ice cracked again and Zuko realised that the section that they were standing on was now floating freely. "Did you do that?"

"No."

"This is bad."

Toph started water bending. Zuko was of two minds about the results: on one hand, the ice floe was moving towards the city, through what was rapidly turning into a small lake; on the other, it was tilting alarmingly as she created a wave beneath it. "You probably don't want me to tell you how fast it's melting then."

Behind them, a black shape rose above the water. At first Zuko thought that it was simply a rolling of the dark water but then it rose higher and he saw steam rising from it. Volcanic rock, cooled by the water but still hot enough to boil the water against it. He was relieved not to see rivulets of lava coming from it. "Can we go any faster?"

"Water's not as easy as ice."

Zuko sighed and eyed the water and the distance to the nearest remaining solid ice, which was only a quarter of a mile or so from the edge of the city. "I hope the water's warm enough for us to survive swimming in it. A thought struck him. "Can you even swim?"

Toph dug her boots into the ice. "I can float a bit."

"Just for the record, if Roku has any idea at all about where you might get another fire bending teacher, I'm going to quit. I swear, you'd burn water if it was remotely possible."

.oOo.

"I never thought I'd see open water this far south," Bato observed from where he and Arnook stood on the wall of the city.

The older chief shook his head in disbelief. "I don't remember Kanna being this destructive."

"She was older," pointed out Bato. "And she had her head filled with all that sexist nonsense your water benders believe."

"Maybe," the northern chief agreed grudgingly. "I think there were some stories about Roku flooding half of... half a city when he was learning water bending."

They looked at each other. "She can't stay here," Bato voiced what they were both thinking.

Yue arrived - she had been on the other side of the city, consulting with her own teacher on what to instruct Toph on next - in time to hear that. "Who can't stay?" she asked and then looked out over the wall. "Tui and La! I thought that the guards were exaggerating!"

The city could now add 'lakeside' to its description with water sprawling out in a more or less egg-shape to the south. Near the centre of the wider end, the furthest from them, a loaf-shaped mass of black rock had risen, creating an island. Squinting, Yue could see slight threads of red-gold running through it, steam rising from the water wherever the threads - which must be several yards across to be visible from here - reached the lake.

"We were just thinking that it was time for the Avatar to move on," her father clarified.

"But she has so much to learn," protested Yue. She pointed out onto the water where Toph was propelling the shrinking ice raft towards the shore. "She hasn't mastered water bending yet, and she's barely begun air bending."

"And if her current lesson had been just a little closer to the city, we might have to rebuild it. I think that our people will consider that possibility unwelcome, daughter." Arnook looked pained. "If she is an example then I do not believe that Earth Kingdom little girls are like those of the Water Tribes. When you were that age, you used your water bending to make your dolls dance. She..." He gestured helplessly at the lake.

Dozens of the water tribe had gathered on the shores of the new lake, two water benders carefully reinforcing the ice to provide some measure of safety. Slightly apart from the crowd, one woman stood alone. Despite the concealing blue furs of the Water Tribe, Yue recognised her immediately as Mai.

"Well, at least with some open water here I can give her a few lessons before she leaves," Yue said, trying to find at least some good in the situation. "You aren't sending her away immediately?"

"A few days won't hurt," Bato assured her. "And she can stay in one of my people's villages for a while, as well, although that has it's risks. The Fire Nation Navy is growing frisky."

"And then?" Yue asked. "Where can she go then? Where will be safe for her to hide and to study her bending?"

The two men looked at each other. There really was no answer and to avoid an awkward silence Bato turned it into a joke. "Safe for her or safe for those around her?"

.oOo.

Almost a week later, Toph lay on the stones she had so dramatically raised out of the ice and meditated. In her usual disregard for convention, she had scorned the traditional lotus position and was instead resting with her back against the ground, knees bent to place her bare feet likewise upon the stones, arms spread wide and her head pillowed only by her parka.

It should have been foolish to the point of suicide for her to lie out on the ground so far to the south. However, while the waters of the new lake had ceased to bubble they had not frozen over. Zuko had speculated that the rocks below were still warm, that the lava continued to flow to some degree. Toph's earthsense told her that he was right, that there was flow of warm lava rising that was balanced by cooling lava sinking and that the two had reached an equilibrium that maintain a temperature on and around the island that was merely uncomfortably cold, not lethal.

And, so, with the earth that she had raised up to meditate upon available and even - bliss! - in skin contact with her, she closed her eyes slept.

Or meditated. It was a blurry line, even for her.

At some point she grew aware of another presence on the island. Her earthsense revealed nothing, but her ears were as good as ever and she had heard that particular breathing before. "Kanna?"

"Are you sure that you can't see when you're here?" the retired Avatar asked mildly.

"Would you believe me if I said no?"

She heard Kanna's braid swish from side to side as she shook her head. "You are so sharp that you will cut yourself," she said, almost proudly, and then sat down at Toph's head, somehow replacing the parka with her lap so smoothly that Toph barely noticed the transition. "I admire your island, dear."

"It'll do," Toph replied dismissively. "Not sending one of your minions to fetch me this time?"

Kanna chuckled. "No. That was something of a formal occasion. I'm a little surprised though: I expected you to have questions about air bending, not fire bending."

"And I expected you to have Roku wrapped around your little finger by now," Toph sniped back. "Are you losing your touch, woman?"

"What makes you think I haven't?" Kanna asked archly. "But aren't you changing the subject?"

"Sifu's strength are the basics," explained Toph straightforwardly. "The forms, he can teach me. The heart of fire bending, that's something he's not so good at teaching. I want to go back to the roots. Of course, the dragons are dead."

Kanna ran her fingers through her successors raven dark hair. "The first fire benders were an ancient people in the islands that became the Fire Nation," she told the girl. "Ask your Sifu about the sun warriors."

Toph filed that thought away. "Any suggestions on air bending? Some of the older water benders seem to think I can't possibly master water bending until I have a good grip on air bending, but it's slow."

"Normally, yes. Traditionally that would be the correct order to learn them," the old woman agreed. "But sometimes a tradition is just a tradition. Air bending will be the hardest of disciplines for you to learn, for its precepts are counter to your instincts, just as fire bending came hard to me. Air benders, after all, preferred to avoid fights."

"Boring," Toph said dismissively.

"It may take some time for you to learn it," Kanna confirmed.

"Well, learning not to fight isn't exactly a priority, I've got a Fire Lord to deal with," said Toph dismissively. "Maybe I'll just have to get along without it."

"I don't recommend that," advised her predecessor. "I found it very useful fighting the Fire Lord of my day. It kept me alive more than once."

"Running away often does."

"She who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day," Kanna agreed. "However, that is not it's only use." She sighed regretfully. "I used air bending to kill Azulon in the end. Just as a water bender is advantaged upon the ocean or an ice sheet, the sky is the dominion of an air bender..."

.oOo.

"sun warriors?" Zuko asked in surprise. "Yes, I've heard of them. They raised an empire that covered almost half of the modern Fire Nation, but it collapsed after the secrets of fire bending became more widely known. They've been dead for centuries."

Toph waited for a beat. Then: "Is that all you know?"

"There was a city - it'll be all jungle by now," Zuko sighed. "Let me guess, we're going there now."

"In that form of we that excludes you," Toph told him. "Can't go taking you back to the Fire Nation, can we?"

"What?" asked Zuko, his voice sounding quite hurt. "I thought that you trusted me!"

Mai rolled her eyes. "You have a recognisable face, your highness. The minute you set foot on the Fire Nation some sappy little girl with a crush on you will see you, tell her friends and the local garrison will know within the hour. Besides, don't you have things to do over here? Persuading Arnook to accept you courting his daughter?"

Yue and Zuko's cheeks pinked, instantly. "Little pitchers have big ears," Yue guessed after looking between the two sisters.

"Just think of me as your chaperone," Toph said airily. "All those long, private, moonlit walks. I can testify, hand on heart, that my Sifu's are being perfectly proper. After all, if you wanted to be secret from me, you'd have found somewhere to go where I couldn't feel the vibrations of you walking. Kuku's back perhaps."

"I'm feeling a whole lot more comfortable with not accompanying you to the Fire Nation, you little voyeur," Zuko said, face red, although Yue seemed rather interested in the suggested discreet place to do more than simply walk together.

"It's not voyeurism unless you were doing something naughty," Toph said piously. "I was kind of hoping you'd get to the good stuff actually. A girl's got to learn somewhere."

Yue scowled uselessly at Toph, unsure if the young girl would even be aware of the expression, and then gave up and laughed. "Why don't I fetch a map for you, Zuko? I presume that it will be rather a long flight for Kuku."

"The island I'm thinking of is tropical," Zuko told her. "And practically on the far side of the Fire Nation. Even on Kuku, it will take weeks - you'll have to stop for food and forage."

"Are you sure that you want to go?" asked Toph seriously. "We're talking about more than a month away from Zuko - more if we need a lift elsewhere. Do you want to leave him alone and unprotected among all these war widows?"

"They are all war widows," Yue pointed out. "And if our relationship, such as it is, can't survive a little competition then it has no future anyway." She gave Zuko a pointed look and he wisely met her gaze evenly and silently.

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Well at least he can be trained," she said disdainfully. "Toph is correct for another reason however: in all honesty, Yue, you're almost as eye-catching as Zuko, if for different reasons. A sky bison being seen in the sky will cause concern: a woman so obviously of the Water Tribes will become the focus of suspicion almost immediately. Toph and I can pass for fire maidens easily enough, but any halfwit who sees your hair or eyes will know you aren't from the Fire Nation."

"You seem to have an endless stream of arguments to have the two of you travelling alone," noted Yue. "I don't recall either of you being gifted in the handling of animals - particularly you, Toph. Do you think you can persuade a sky bison to accompany you. They're not fools you know - even if they can't speak, they're as smart as we are in their way."

"In which case I am sure that they will respond to reason," proposed Mai confidently. "I have spent some time in the stables you know, and I've handled enough stupid riding beasts over the years - mongoose dragons and komodo rhinos to name two - that an intelligent creature such as Kuku provides novelty."

Zuko looked between them. "Why don't you fetch that map, Yue," he requested. "And maybe we should ask Bato if there is a discreet village for Toph to have a few more water bending lessons while Mai courts herself a sky bison."


	13. Chapter Twelve

"So what will you name him?" Yue asked as Mai and Toph loaded their belongings onto the saddle of Mai's new steed. She had flown the two girls north to one of the islands around the Southern Air Temple, where most of the sky bison herd foraged when possible. While Toph had wrestled with the still difficult concepts of bending liquid water, Mai had assisted the bison herders, an activity that seemed to mostly consist of brushing the huge beast's fur and ensuring that their... waste... was suitably disposed of. Of course, the latter meant drying the stuff out somewhere discreet for eventual transport back to the South Pole to use as fuel for fires.

The fire maiden had finally 'befriended' the animal that the herders assured her was the most ornery and unpleasant of all the herd's bulls - given the tenuous survival of the species, risking a cow was simply not done - a comparatively darkly furred beast whose arrow markings almost blurred into the rest of his hair. According to the herders, the sky bison had never mated that they were aware off and had taken what they considered to be regrettable delight in dumping riders off his head from barely survivable heights on at least three occasions.

Mai had her own ideas about how to handle bad tempered creatures, notions quite at odds with the almost reverential methods of the Water Tribe. While the younger herders had seemed shocked at her use of an improvised riding crop to establish dominance over the sky bison, a substantial number of their elders - most probably those with personal experience of the 'swarthy' sky bison - had watched with undisguised glee.

"Bison," she replied pragmatically. "It's what he is."

"You can't just call him Bison," Yue said in a shocked tone. "It'll confuse all the other Bisons. They can understand everything we say to them, you know."

"Mai's Bison," suggested Toph from the saddle, where she was tucking the modest bundles that they would carry with them away where even she could find them easily. "Except for Mai it would be 'My Bison'."

Yue shook her head disapprovingly. "He's not a thing, you know. He's a person."

Mai sighed and walked round to the bison's head, staring it down when it mooed at her. "From now on, your name is M Bison," she told it firmly. Yue slapped her forehead. "Can we go now?" Mai asked her.

"As long as you've got everything important," Yue told her. "I'm sorry we can't provide you with more money, but Fire Nation coins aren't all that common here at the South Pole."

"We'll manage," Mai said confidently. "You've equipped us fairly well otherwise and we still have some Earth Kingdom coin left that we'll be able to exchange - enough to get us started at any rate. We'll make some stops before we reach our destination, so we can obtain money and clothes there if it looks as if we'll need to disguise ourselves to fit in."

"I don't want to know how you'll get them, do I?" Yue asked. Life on the harsh ice cap demanded that a community hold together. Theft, which undermined that trust and might deprive someone of a vital resource, while not unheard of, was rare and frowned upon. For the two girls intending to covertly cross the Fire Nation, larceny seemed to be the logical option for them to employ.

"It's almost certainly not as bad as you think," Toph laughed. "Casual labour, gambling, maybe luring someone into trying to mug the 'helpless blind girl'. We'll be trying not to draw attention to us, remember?"

"That means no creating volcanoes, you understand?"

"No, it means not getting caught getting creating volcanoes," disagreed Toph.

Mai nodded agreement, although she didn't specify who with.

.oOo.

"My cousin asked you to marry you?" Azula asked mildly. "You really do have him wrapped around your finger, Ty Lee." She smiled but the little gymnast was not so foolish as to mistake it as a sign of happiness. "You accepted, of course?"

"I could hardly refuse Azulon's grandson," the younger girl pointed out. "Not to mention..."

Azula waved her hand dismissively, "Yes yes," she agreed impatiently. "It wouldn't do to create a rift in your relationship with Lu Ten at this point. I suggest you enjoy the courtship because the honeymoon is unlikely to be memorable." She leant on the balcony rail - progress in the negotiations with Long Feng could almost be measured by the incremental improvements in habitation for the Fire Nation embassy - and looked out over Ba Sing Se. "Did he let anything slip?"

"If your brother is really collaborating with the Avatar, I don't think he'll be taken alive," Ty Lee confided. "One part protection of the royal family's reputation, one part sentiment for your lady mother and perhaps some rebellious urges towards the Fire Lord."

"Rebellious?" Azula's eyebrows arched. "Really? Interesting choice of words there. Are you suggesting that he might be inclined to hurry the succession along?" She privately considered the pros and cons of Zuko's survival for a moment and then dismissed them. Delivering him dead wouldn't really hurt Lu Ten's credibility in Ozai's eyes and Azula was honest enough about her father to admit that.

Ty Lee pressed her fingers together. "He's still studying accounts of the Battle of the Three Dragons," she explained. "Not that I give him time when we're together, but he has three new scrolls on the subject since I last saw him. Two of them from the Earth Kingdom." Which was frowned upon, though not illegal, in the Fire Nation's military. Of course, as a Prince, Lu Ten was unlikely to be brought to task for such a trivial matter.

Azula's lips tightened. "Let me guess, he's still chasing that ridiculous theory of treachery at Serpent's Pass? Even if he was right, there would hardly be evidence in some scroll somewhere. There was only one survivor and if father did decide to settle the succession after Kanna was dead, he would hardly have left a written confession of it."

"Did he? Decide the succession, I mean."

"I haven't a clue," Azula responded. "What would it matter? Well, to anyone without a sentimental connection to Uncle Iroh?"

"I guess," Ty Lee agreed. "So, what do you want me to do now?"

"I'm surprised that you have the energy to do anything, from what I hear about your recent activities," smirked Azula. "Were you going for a record? Most exercise ever carried out in bed?"

Lu Ten's fiancée smiled back. "Oh we weren't just in bed, " she clarified.

"So you weren't just doing...?" Azula asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Well we were, but we didn't restrict ourselves to bed," explained Ty Lee. "You'd barely left before he threw me up against the wall of the map room and -"

"Stop!" commanded the princess. "I'm sorry I asked," she added under her breath. "I want you to open him up for an assassin, not to kill him yourself through exertion. Granted, he'd die with a smile on his face and no one would ever suspect foul play..."

.oOo.

When she heard the shout of outrage Mai was just leaving the store where she had parted with almost a third of their remaining money in return for what she hoped would be enough food for the next leg of their journey along the chain of islands that extended north-east from the heart of the Fire Nation. Fire Fountain City, with its famous fire-breathing statues of the Fire Lords Azulon, Iroh and Ozai, was their second stop since they had left the Southern Fire Nation.

It wasn't until the second cry, once she was clear of the door entirely that Mai could make out the words: "Stop! Cheat!" It didn't surprise her to find out that Toph was not dutifully waiting outside for her to come back with the food. Looking around didn't betray what might have distracted her little sister, but then, Toph wasn't limited to line of sight for that sort of thing and the cries were coming from a tangle of side streets.

Toph did not run out of the streets but a scrawny man with a headband and an ugly looking moustache ran out, looking around angrily. "You, young lady! Did you see a girl in a green dress run out here? She had milky eyes, like she was blind."

Mai gave him a long look and then jerked her head back towards the store, glad that she was wearing her old red and black pants suit, not the Kyoshi dress. "I just came out, I haven't seen anyone," she said honestly. "Besides, I think you'd hear a blind girl running - every person she collided with would complain."

"I don't think she's really blind," the man said, looking around at the crowded street. "She scammed me in a game, cost me a pretty penny too!"

"You were playing a game, for money, against a little girl that you thought was blind?" Mai asked him. "That doesn't seem very fair."

"I told you, she wasn't blind," he told her. "Besides, it's supposed to be luck. No reason a blind girl couldn't get lucky."

Mai frowned. "I don't see anyone in a green dress," she told him. "And how could she have 'scammed' you in a game of chance?"

"Ah! Now I've figured that out," he said triumphantly. "She made like she was blind, see, so she had to check which shell the stone was under by hand. She musta shuffled another stone in to them without my seeing. Slick."

More likely she was winning even after you thought you'd shuffled the stone out from any of the shells, Mai thought. "I'm not familiar with the game," she lied, knowing that the conversation could only reach one destination at that point unless the man was very shrewd about picking his marks. Wait, he'd gambled with _Toph_. Couldn't be all that bright.

On no more encouragement than Mai's monosyllabic responses the man set up a little table - not much more than a tray - on top of two convenient barrels and explained in a well-practised patter how the game worked. Given that he was offering a two to one return on a one to two chance, odds were that an honest game would break even in the long run, which made Mai wonder why anyone would believe that someone running the games as a living would be honest.

"I see what you mean about luck," she said, sounding dubiously, "But it doesn't seem to be a very exciting game."

"Oh, it's at least a thousand times more interesting when money's involved, young lady," the gambler assured her. "But I couldn't ask a proper young lady like yourself to..." Mai produced a silver coin. "...well, if you insist."

Having introduced Mai's coin to his own pair of silvers, the man placed a humble fleck of stone under one of the bowl-sized shells and started moving them quickly back and forth through an energetic and confusing pattern. Mai didn't bother to watch his hands - any half-competent grifter would be used to hiding movements of his hands. Instead she watched his eyes, something that seemed to discomfit him somewhat.

"So, young lady, pick yourself a shell," he suggested.

If he was a poor swindler, he'd have removed the pebble and go for the win now. If he was a clever man though, he would ensure her win now to hook her in for a larger wager. Hmm. In either case... "The centre," Mai said, and before the gambler could lift the shell she reached over and flipped the two side shells over revealing that there were pebbles under both of them.

"Wha-!" he exclaimed.

"Very deft," Mai told him drily. "I see that you are well versed in deft cheating at this. A pebble in each to let me win at first, and then remove all the pebbles."

The man swallowed nervously as Mai started to delicately pick a tiny speck of dirt out from under one fingernail with a throwing knife that seemed to appear magically in her fingers. "What is it worth to you that I should forget all about this conversation?" she asked blandly.

.oOo.

Toph was repacking M Bison's saddle when Mai returned to their secluded campsite outside of Fire Fountain City. It was a sheltered beach far enough from the city that it was unlikely that they would be stumbled over by chance, not as comfortable as Mai would have preferred, but not so unpleasant that it was unmanageable for a few days. She did not miss the substantial bag of coin that lay on the ground next to their other belongings.

"A productive day?" Mai asked casually.

"Hustled some guy who was scamming the locals," Toph confirmed calmly. "I don't think he'll make trouble, but it's not like we were planning to hang around anyway."

Mai threw her own coin bag down next to Toph's. It was noticeably larger and heavier and the look on Toph's face was clear evidence that she was aware of that. "Hustled some fool who got cheated by a blind girl," she explained, pulling the straps of her food basket off her shoulders and setting it down. She stretched to relieve the ache of her muscles. "We should probably pick up some fresh clothes in the next town we visit. Kyoshi Island greens are a touch visible on a Fire Nation street."

Toph waved her hand in front of her face. "I'll take your word for it. What town is it likely to be?"

"Shu Jing," Mai said, eyeing the water. "I'm going to get cleaned up before we go. It's another long leg up there."

Toph kept loading as Mai stripped down to her underwear and only a handful of her most essential weapons. The older girl plunged into the warm waters - this late in the day, even river water wasn't cold enough to shock, particularly after experiencing the bitter cold at the South Pole - and started efficiently scouring at herself with a rag. She had to duck her head to get soak her hair - long hair was a tremendous bother when travelling but if her little sister could manage then Mai would too (she was unaware that Toph refrained from cutting her own long hair in self-conscious imitation of her).

"So what's special about Shu Jing?"

Looking up, Mai saw that Toph had efficiently tidied the campsite away, leaving only Mai's green dress and her weapons for her to change into after her bath. "Nothing particular, it's just a convenient town to use as a jumping off point for the flight to where Zuko told us the sun warriors came from."

"Just a name on a map?" Toph asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

Mai racked her mind for any other facts about the town. "I believe it's home to the sword master Piandao," she said at last.

"Oh?" Toph sat down on the riverbank, water rippling below her in response to a casual movement of her hands. "Does he make swords or use them?"

"Both," explained Mai. "He was a famous swordsman and commander in the army before he retired, but his swords are considered works of art. Wealthy patrons pay huge sums for them. My father commissioned one after my brother was born, so that Tom-Tom will have a Piandao sword when he's old enough to join the army, but there are so many orders for them that we only had word that it was delivered to our family home in the capital after we were in Omashu."

"Sounds like he does well for himself. Is he a great fire bender?"

"Actually, he isn't a fire bender at all," Mai revealed. "It's the only reason he managed to leave the army - the Fire Lord can't look so weak as to merely _request_ a non-bender to rejoin the army, and the last time someone demanded that Piandao return to the banners they took a hundred soldiers with them. He defeated them all."

"Neat! Maybe we'll meet him when we're in Shu Jing," Toph suggested. "I've never met a sword master before. I wonder how he moves."

Mai shook her head. "It would be better to avoid him. Even if he did leave the army, that might not mean that he'd turn a blind eye to you. Remember, if Zhao survived to make a report there's probably at least a decent description of you in the hands of anyone important in the Fire Nation." She finished washing herself down and waded up onto the beach. "Would you mind?"

Toph swept one arm up and around, the water on Mai streaming obediently off her body and into a long trail towards the young girl's hand. She shaped it into something resembling a sword and slashed at the air inexpertly, the way that Mai had seen boys too young for war training play with toy swords. Of course, this sword was as sharp as Toph's will so even a poorly delivered cut might be fatal.

M Bison mooed irritably, shrugging at the saddle. Bored, probably, Mai concluded as she fastened her dress and started picking up her weapons. Hard to blame him, with nothing to do here but graze. "Alright, let's go. We can get a good distance before the sunlight fades."

.oOo.

Shopping for clothes was something that Toph had laughably little experience of. The only clothes she had ever bought for herself were for her fighting identity in the Earth Rumble tournaments and she had found that enough of a struggle not to get conned or look like a clown at the end of it. "Whatever you get, get me the same for my size. We're the same colour and what-not, right?"

"You'll still need to be here so that you can be measured for them," Mai told her patiently, reviewing what was on the racks of the tailor's shop now that she knew she was buying for both of them. While there were some differences in their colouring, Toph was right that they weren't all that great. Of course, the 'what-not' covered the considerable difference in shape imposed by the four year age gap - although Toph was probably more developed than Mai had been at that age. Still, wearing the same style would make some degree of sense - it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that a younger sister would have clothes that her elder sister had outgrown.

"Why don't you pick out some hairpieces," she suggested, pointing towards the table at the back of the store where the storekeeper's wife could keep an eagle eye on the relatively valuable merchandise.

Toph nodded agreeably and wandered in that direction, holding her arms extended so that she could touch each garment on the racks she was between as she walked. A flash of colour caught Mai's eye as the clothes swayed back into position and she took a few steps to examine the wine-red dress. Plain and shoulderless, with a divided skirt reaching only mid-calf, it would be more comfortable than heavier fabrics in the warmth of the Fire Nation.

Still, as it was, it wasn't quite suitable for someone of Toph's age and it would be... eye-catching on a young woman of Mai's age. While the latter might be flattering, it wouldn't be very practical under these circumstances. She started looking through the tops to find something complimentary.

"So who are you buying for?" she heard the middle-aged woman ask indulgently.

"For me and Mai, of course," Toph replied bluntly, running her finger around one of the hairpieces.

The woman gasped, not angrily. "Oh my, you won't want one of those then. Those are for men, dear. Here, let me show you something more feminine."

"Does that mean delicate?" Toph asked diplomatically. "I'm not so good with that. Blind, you see."

"Oh, goodness," the woman said in a shocked voice. "I really couldn't tell, dear. You manage very well."

Toph picked up one of the head-pieces, a plain but rather nicely worked cuff of bronze two finger-widths across, with two dragon wings jutting upwards. Mai thought that it must be a conscious imitation of the traditional headpiece of the crown prince - lost for centuries - but far less fine of course. "This is rather nice, do you have another like it?"

"Well it would certainly be sturdy," the shopkeeper's wife agreed reluctantly, running her eyes across her merchandise. "I don't have another of those, but perhaps you'll like these?" She lifted the hairpiece out of Toph's hand and replaced it with another, this one with silvery trim and more elaborate side pieces wrought in the shape of rearing dragons.

Toph made a disgusted noise as she turned it over in her hand. "This just isn't sturdy enough," she said dismissively. "And there's something about the metal... is that silver? It must cost twice as much."

"You've caught me," the motherly woman admitted shamelessly. "But really, you have such lovely hair. It deserves silver."

The blind girl laughed bluntly. "What would I care about what it looks like? Something more like the first one, please."

Mai shook her head and then picked out tunic like top, open at the sides but hanging long at front and back. It was the wrong colour, but it would cover up their shoulders.

.oOo.

The storekeeper's wife was more than happy for the two girls to change their clothes in a small cubicle set aside for that purpose and in exchange for a small additional payment made some minor alterations to the fit - more for Mai than for Toph, who could be expected to grow into her new garments. And when they walked out of the store, they both had their hair pulled back into loose ponytails secured by simple brass hair-pieces, engraved such that dragons snaked around the circumference. Only their bangs were left unsecured, Mai's neat fringe and Toph's less regular eye-obscuring locks of hair.

"So, where next?" Toph asked curiously.

Mai glanced along the street. "A weapon shop. I want to replace a few lost knives, and the Water Tribe didn't have any metal suitable for them, even if there was a sufficiently skilled weapon smith there."

"Weapons?" Toph's smile broadened. "Nice. Do you think I should get something?"

"Well, a lady can never have enough knives," counselled the older girl as they walked down the street. "But it's important to find weapons that work for you."

The weapons shop - a veritable temple to the regrettable brevity of life and the tools that could further abbreviate it - was not busy. The proprietor, a grey haired man with shoulders that suggested he might well be the smith responsible for making some the various deadly implements, was conversing quietly with a lean, well-dressed man.

Mai made her way directly over to the trays of knives stored at the back, with Toph lagging behind and stamping her feet - now in fashionable thin soled moccasins that she had been assured were intended for dancing - every few paces to make absolutely certain she wasn't about to walk into something with sharp edges. The earth bender stopped at a rack of swords and ran her hands very carefully over them before selecting a Dao and giving it a tentative swing, the rings set along the back edge clinking as she did so.

The awkward move caught the attention of the man speaking to the storekeeper and he half-turned towards Toph, who was partly obscured from his sight by the weapon rack. "Let me guess. you've come hundreds of miles from your little village where you're the best swordsman in town and you think you deserve to learn from Master Piandao?"

Toph returned the weapon to its place on the rack. "That's amazing! You got every single little detail wrong! How did you manage it?"

The man blinked and then smiled ruefully as he took a step sideways to get a clearer line of sight towards her. "It's a knack," he admitted. "My apologies for the remark, young lady. It was rude of me."

"Whatever," Toph lifted another sword, a straight jian and then replaced it immediately. The light weapon was not to her taste. "You hear that story a lot?"

"Oh, quite often," he admitted. "You're looking for a sword?"

"I dunno," Toph replied shortly. "A girl has to defend her honour sometimes, but I've never tried using a sword before." She grinned. "I've never seen a sword after all."

"Never?" the man asked in surprise, walking around the rack to look at her. "Ah, I see." He walked like a fighter: purposeful, controlled. "You manage well - I could tell immediately that you are a fighter, but not that you are blind."

Toph grinned. "Thanks. My sister taught me everything she knows."

"Not even close," Mai observed from where she was examining a throwing knife. The storekeeper moved in her direction, more interested in a prospective paying customer than in the Toph's conversation partner.

"I see," the warrior said, lifting the jian and essaying a few thrusts before returning it neatly to its place. "Well, I don't think that this would be your sort of weapon. A sword is a little more involved than merely being a knife writ large."

"Do you have any suggestions?

He frowned and rubbed at his beard. "Well, you've not really got the reach for a pole arm. Have you ever used a hook sword?"

"What's a hook sword?" Toph asked.

"Jet used two," Mai told her, not looking up from the knife she was weighing in her hand.

"Jet?" asked the man. "A friend of yours?"

Toph made a face. "Not hardly. He was a real creep, but I know what you mean now. Are there any here?"

"I believe so." He reached higher up the rack and brought down a pair of swords.

When Toph took them, she could tell that the points curved back on themselves. Thinking back, she tried to move them the way Jet had, all those months ago when he fought against her and Zuko outside of Omashu. Her impaired earthsense had only shown him to her when he was close though, and she quickly realised she was degenerating into random fumbling. "I don't think so."

"I think you could be quite good with practise," her advisor observed, "But I agree, you aren't too deft with them at the moment. Still, you seem to have some experience in wielding paired weapons."

"You're pretty good at this," Toph admitted. "Yeah, I learned to fight a bit with metal fans a while back. It was some sort of traditional women's weapon where we were living."

"Well let's see if we can find any here. It might be better to build on what you already know." The man set off into one of the back corners of the shop. "I believe I saw something of the kind here on my last visit."

"How come you're so good at matching people with weapons? Are you a shopkeeper too?"

He laughed. "In a sense, I suppose I am. Perhaps I should introduce myself: my name is Piandao."

"Oh." Toph could hear Mai's heart start to beat faster at the revelation that this was the famous sword master. "I'm Toph."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Lady Toph. Saddened that so young a lady needs to defend herself, but it is a sad world at times." Piandao pulled a fan out from a crate in the corner, snapped it open and held it in a menacing position where it would be effectively useless and then frowned. "No, that's not right." He offered it to Toph. "Only one of them, unfortunately. Why don't you show me how it's done?"

She accepted the weapon and fell back on her lessons from Kyoshi Island, moving through a kata designed for use with a single fan - although the Kyoshi Warriors were issued them in pairs, it wasn't uncommon for one to be lost. It surprised her for a moment how rusty she was, but then, she hadn't really practised since her injury at Chin Village. "I used to be better at this," Toph grumbled. "I guess I'd really better buy this and get back into practise."

"Practise is usually a good idea," Piandao agreed amiably. "And I'll just undermine my old friend's bargaining power by pointing out that it was in the discards box."

.oOo.

Mai was very careful not to make any complaint as she and Toph followed Piandao up to his home, which was a palatial looking castle overlooking some of Shu Jing's admittedly spectacular scenery. It was very generous of the sword master to offer two young women dinner while they were staying in the area - suspicious in certain ways, but Piandao's reputation on such matters was as stainless as could reasonably be hoped for - and refusing would give offense.

There was a minor concern that someone might stumble across M Bison, of course, but this late in the day it wasn't really any more likely than it had been while the two of them were in Shu Jing and if someone did... Mai shrugged slightly. Too bad for them. The dark furred sky bison was so aggressive that she sometimes half-expected him to start flying via fire bending not air bending.

The gates into the castle bore a lotus symbol and the one on the left swung open as the three of them approached, revealing a dignified, rather stout man of around Piandao's age. "Ah, Fat," Piandao said brightly. "As you can see, I have guests for dinner today. I hope I'm giving you enough warning."

The man - Fat presumably - frowned but nodded and glanced up at the sun, now low in the sky. "Of course Piandao," he said with exquisite courtesy.

"Mai, Toph, this is my old companion Fat," Piandao offered in introduction. "We've been together many years and I would be quite lost without him."

The girls bowed their heads towards Fat and saluted after the Fire Nation fashion. "I am Mai, and this is my sister Toph," Mai introduced herself, glad that in their new clothes they looked reasonably respectable.

Fang returned the bow and then stepped aside to allow them all the enter. Inside it's defensive wall, the castle was clearly more residence than fortress, functional buildings lining the interior of the wall and a luxurious looking pagoda residence that probably screened the castle's private gardens from the entrance. Everything was built of the finest materials and Mai guessed that for all the huge prices charged for a Piandao sword, the man must have spent staggering sums to build a house worthy of the highest nobility.

"Wow, your house looks magnificent," Toph said in an awed tone.

"Why thank you," Piandao replied and then paused to pinch the bridge of his nose. "That's your favourite joke, isn't it?"

"It never gets old," confirmed Toph with a nod of her head. "But someone told me recently that I should keep in practise."

"Sounds like a wise man," observed Piandao with a twinkle in his eye. "So, Lady Mai. Are you also skilled with war fans, like your sister?"

"It's considered ladylike," Mai answered absently. "And our mother was always very concerned that we should know how to act like ladies."

"Another weapon in your arsenal, no doubt," chuckled the man. He gestured for them to follow a path around the side of the mansion rather than up the stairs to the front door. "Perhaps the two of you would be so good as to give me a demonstration of your skills before dinner. I find that a sparring session sharpens the appetite."

Mai looked at Toph, who shrugged and tapped her new fan, where it was thrust through her belt. The message was clear: fans only. Mai nodded agreement and produced her own pair from a fold of her own dress. One disadvantage of the new clothes was that they didn't allow her to conceal dart launchers in her sleeves, but she had made up for it by hiding some thin blades in the soles of her shoes - which were much thicker than those of Toph's moccasins - so that with a little adjustment the tips would extend just past her toes. That would be a nasty surprise to anyone she kicked.

Of course, in order for it to be a surprise, she would have to keep it in reserve. Like a lot of things, it was better a secret.

The back of the mansion, as Mai had suspected and Toph had known before she even entered the gates, did indeed face a private garden, on a sunken level well below the back of the house. Between them was a paved terrace, suitable for any number of activities, including - obviously - weapons drills.

Piandao took a few steps out onto the yard and drew the sword that was so much a part of him that Mai had barely noticed he was armed when they were in the shop. "If you would be so good?" he invited, holding the scabbard of his sword in his offhand.

Three fans snapped open in unison and the two girls... did nothing else.

They were already placed closely enough to support each other, already ready to move to defend or counter-attack accordingly. Offense was not even considered: against a renowned master of the sword, they would want to know what they were dealing with first.

Piandao gave them a little lesson in that. For all his years, the man was fast and his wrist flexible. Mai's pair of fans gave her the best defences of the two, and he came very close to breaking through them with rapid thrusts of his sword. Toph automatically closed in from the swordsman's left, trying to get inside the sweep of the sword, only to find her fan blocked by the scabbard in Piandao's left hand.

Toph's own left hand locked onto his wrist - not enough to prevent him from moving the arm, she was simply too small for that, but enough to hinder him and Mai moved to exploit the opening only to find that there was no opening when Piandao uncoiled like a serpent, the jian's pommel coming within a hairsbreadth of striking her squarely on the point of the jaw. At the same moment, Piandao forced his arm out in the simplest and most powerful of moves, a punch that Toph's grip could do no more than divert past the side of her head at the cost of losing her grip.

She spun, arm jabbing out for Piandao's belly, feeling the vibration that showed he was stepping back beyond her reach, right arm sweeping around. Toph ducked, the sword cutting a few strands of hair from her pony tail, and Mai, temporarily separated from Piandao by her sister, flung one fan in a spinning arc over Toph's head. The swordsman brought up his sword to parry the weapon and his scabbard down to deflect Toph's foot as she rolled between his legs, one foot thrusting upwards like a spear towards his pelvis.

She rolled free of course, bounding to her feet with Piandao bracketed between the two of them. He stepped aside, towards the garden, parrying in two directions, glad that Mai was missing a fan and had elected for whatever reason, not to produce any of the other weapons that he knew she carried.

"To parry and to cut," Piandao commented as they broke, the three of them moving around, seeking opportune positioning to resume the spar. "I had expected that - also thrusting, which is not your habit, I see. I confess I had not considered the use of a fan as a thrown weapon."

"Nor do a lot of people," agreed Mai and dodged around a cut towards her leg, too low for her fan to reach down and parry. That was one problem with the weapons: lack of reach. Behind Piandao, Toph scooped up the fan Mai had thrown and ran towards the swordsman's back. He wheeled right, using his sword to intercept the attack and keeping his scabbard pointed towards Mai.

The wood of the ornate scabbard cracked as Mai took the opportunity to crack a sharp blow against it., driving it aside and then lunging closer while Toph pushed Piandao's sword up above her head with one fan, slashing with the other.

The three of them all came to a halt. Mai's fan was almost touching Piandao's left eye, but she knew he had released hold of the scabbard to drive a punch that had halted just barely in contact with her throat. On the far side of him, Toph had the edge of the fan pressed into his thigh, perfectly placed to sever the major vein there, but he had recovered from her parry with such swiftness that the edge of his sword lay against her ribs.

An approving smile crossed the sword master's face. "Most formidable. I applaud you both." He withdrew both sword and hand, relaxing.

After a moment, Mai closed her fan, Toph following suit and stepping around Piandao to return Mai's fan to her. Both bowed to Piandao. "Thank you for the lesson," Mai told him.

"Not at all," he assured her. "Thank you both for the demonstration."

From the door leading into the mansion, Fat cleared his throat. "Dinner," he announced, "is served."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

If the meal served for them by Fat was typical of how Piandao ate, then his diet had a great deal in common with his tastes in architecture: the food was of excellent quality but rather simple fare overall. Rice, with boiled vegetables and fried beef made up the main course after a thin and heavily spiced soup starter that Toph found rather hotter than she had realised, cooling her mouth with iced tea provided by Fat, who diplomatically refrained from smirking at the girl's expression.

"Not to your taste?" Piandao asked from where he was kneeling at one end of the low table.

Toph shrugged. "I didn't each much soup when I was younger, it took a while to learn how to eat it. I didn't realise this one was quite so spicy." She took another spoonful and washed it down with more tea. "It is good though," the young earth bender admitted, nodding in acknowledgement to Fat.

Piandao chuckled. "Indeed. Cooking is one of the arts where I humbly recognise Fat as being the true master in this household. Are either of you inclined towards that particular art."

Mai's lips twitched. "I'm not particularly domestic," she admitted. "Toph seems to follow my example in that as well."

"Nor am I," the sword master admitted. "I'd been living of army slop for years, so eating my own cooking didn't seem like much of a sacrifice when I first moved here. But then Fat offered me his home-cooking if I'd take him on as a student. I was convinced after the first bite."

"I take it that you negotiate more forcibly over your swords," Mai observed. "Considering the prices you charge."

"Oh well," he said, giving the impression he would be waving dismissively, if he wasn't holding a bowl of rice in one hand and chopsticks in the other. "I only charge so much to try to discourage so many people from asking me for swords. It's all very well to make them, but there is only so much time in the day and after I started selling swords to pay for all this, well, I barely had time to do any of this until I set the prices to where they are." His lips quirked. "Of course, now most of my customers buy the swords as decoration or as talking points, rather than using them as weapons."

"Is that some reference to some sort of philosophy?" Toph asked.

Piandao swallowed a mouthful of rice. "I suppose it is," he said thoughtfully. "A sword is a weapon, the most versatile of weapons. Any fool could make a sword-shaped piece of metal to hang on a wall. I like to think that my swords are more than that."

Toph used her own chopsticks to feed herself some beef. "Bloodthirsty," she observed before she'd finished chewing on it. It was hard to tell, with her mouth full, but Mai suspected that there some ambivalence on her part as to whether she approved or not.

"I would rather that they were treated as weapons of war," Piandao said drily. "That is not quite the same as desiring that weapons of war be made use of. Then again, my customers are paying dearly for the privilege of not following my wishes on the matter, so I suppose that it not in my hands." He signalled for Fat, who was sitting at the bottom of the table, to refill their tea cups, the level of which was below the median point. "So, what brought the two of you to Shu Jing?"

"Trying to avoid Toph being drafted into the army," Mai lied smoothly. Since Piandao had departed the Fire Nation's army on his own terms, it didn't seem likely that he would be particularly offended by the notion of a family not wanting their younger and blind daughter to be compelled to serve the Nation, as all fire benders were unless they could obtain an exemption. Such exemptions were typically granted only to noble families concerned about keeping a line of blood descent safe from combat and almost invariably required bribes almost as great as the cost of purchasing one of Piandao's swords.

"I'm still not convinced that they'd bother," Toph objected half-heartedly. "What would the army want with a blind fire bender?"

"In my experience it would be less a matter of wanting you to be in the army than it would be a matter of not wanting to set a precedent of rejecting a fire bender due to a disability," Piandao explained. "Bureaucrats are generally reluctant to innovate without a significant financial incentive, in my experienced. You realise that refusing a summons to serve is a criminal offense?"

"Failure to receive a summons is not," Mai explained. "If we cannot be located, we cannot receive notice that Toph has been called to serve and therefore cannot be held to be in refusal of a summons."

Piandao nodded thoughtfully. "But no one can run forever, young ladies."

"And if no one knows where we are headed, no one can share that information with bureaucrats," answered Mai.

To his credit Piandao did not seem offended by the implied lack of trust. "It is a sad day when such caution is required between countrymen," he said simply. "But it must also be admitted that there have been many sad days of late." Before the mood could become gloomier, he proved his bona fides as a host and changed the subject. "So, do either of you play Pai Sho?"

"A little," Mai conceded.

Toph visibly weighed her options before admitting: "As long as you don't mind me touching the board to keep track of the tiles." Unsaid was the fact that most players would reasonably fear that Toph would - intentionally or otherwise - move tiles while doing so. There was a degree to which her earth sense could guide her - most tiles and boards were stone - but she would hardly admit that under these circumstances.

"Then perhaps, after we are done eating, we can play a game or two," Piandao offered hospitably. "I am sure that a warrior so skilled with a war fan will make no careless mistakes upon a mere Pai Sho table."

.oOo.

"An interesting man," Mai threw back over her shoulder as M Bison flew through the barely pre-dawn sky. They would be out of sight of land before the sun was high enough to give a good chance of spotting them, and this leg of the journey would keep them out of that sight for longer than she was entirely comfortable with. The charts that she had were either from the water tribe, relating largely to currents that she couldn't track from the air, or copies of Air Nomad charts that were a hundred years old and based on air currents that she was barely aware of when she was in them.

"Does Spiky have a crush?" asked Toph sleepily from under a blanket where she was curled up inside the arc of the saddle. She had seemed distracted during and after the walk from Piandao's castle to their campsite - while accepting the sword master's hospitality would have allowed them to sleep in actual beds for once, no properly brought up fire maidens would have done so - and as she had been awake when Mai roused herself, it was possible that she had yet to actually sleep. Oh well, it wasn't as if daylight was liable to keep her awake.

"I'm not the one who monopolised him all evening," Mai replied. While she had accepted defeat after two drubbings on the Pai Sho table - humblingly while Piandao was playing Toph on a second board - and accepted the offer of some light reading from Fat (who appeared to be addicted to an seemingly endless series of clichéd romance scrolls that had entertained the marginally literate of the Fire Nation since Mai's mother was a girl); the younger girl had played against the sword master well into the evening, apparently undeterred by his unbroken string of victories against her.

Toph grumbled something unintelligible and rolled herself over to find the edge of the blanket. Upon success, she extended one hand directly upwards, holding something small for Mai to see it. "He gave me this when we left."

With the rising sun coming from behind them, Mai had to squint a little to make it out. "A white lotus tile?" A chill went down her spine and for a moment her mind took her back to a tower cell in Omashu. "Little sister, for the first time I really wish Zuko was here."

"I don't think he knows anything more than we do really," Toph told her. "When he talked to Bumi he was fishing for information and I don't think he got anything significant."

"That doesn't mean that he didn't know anything specific." Mai rubbed at her face. "His uncle had a white lotus tile, Piandao gave you a white lotus tile and both Zuko and Mad King Bumi seem to consider white lotus tiles to have some significance. What, you think there's a secret society of Fire Nation Pai Sho players?"

Toph wrapped the blanket closer around her. "Maybe not just the Fire Nation." A moment later, when Mai didn't reply, the twelve year old began to snore softly.

Mai watched the sky, the sea and the compass she'd bought in a Fire Nation port as soon as they'd reached civilisation. The water tribe and the air nomads could follow currents as much as they wanted, she wanted something that reliably pointed the same direction at all times.

Half a year or so ago, she'd turned her back on her birth family and boredom in favour of an adopted sister and what promised to being interesting and possibly an adventure. She'd certainly not envisaged trying to navigate over the trackless ocean via flying bison after spending an evening sparring with and then getting trounced at Pai Sho by a famous sword master, but Mai had to admit: it wasn't boring.

She looked back at Toph, a surprisingly small bundle of blankets and child, long black hair spilling from one end and then thought back to the last time she seen the Fire Lord Ozai, on one of his rare public appearances. The Fire Lord had cut an imposing figure in long, heavy crimson robes and a gold-trimmed black breastplate and while his mastery of fire was known more by legend than by public demonstration, it was beyond doubt that he had years of experience wielding it.

And then there were the almost endless numbers of the Fire Nation's army, raised from it's teeming population, and the weapons of war designed by its traditional artificers before being copied in hundreds of factories.

Well, if dramatic convention required adventurers to face a seemingly unstoppable enemy, the spirits would appear to have provided such to Toph.

.oOo.

Hundreds of miles away, the Fire Lord had risen with the sun and was now breaking his fast over reports that had arrived over night from his spies within the capital.

Ozai ate alone. His wife, Ursa, had not shared his bed in over a decade and had departed the palace entirely to enter seclusion in one of the royal family's many small lodges upon the first news that her eldest child had vanished. Her husband could not recall off-hand where she had even gone, although it would appear in reports from further afield than the capital if she had left, or done anything else of note.

Those reports would wait until later. Only events within the city that sprawled around the palace of the Fire Lord could be reported swiftly enough for him consider them in any sense urgent. All else he would either need to react to with orders that would again be delayed in transit, or anticipated and therefore covered already by the existing instructions he had given.

Ozai's orders upon the reports of Zuko's reappearance had merely been assign responsibility. The outcomes - if Zhao was reporting truly or if he was not - were equally predetermined and the notion of mitigating the death sentence of Zuko, were he a traitor, or of Zhao, were he maligning a member of the Royal Family simply did not occur to Zuko's father.

Zhao had returned to the capital the previous day and was currently sulking in his family home, being treated for his frost burn. The prognosis was that while he was in no real risk of dying at this point, it would be most of a year before the Admiral was restored to fighting form. Ozai made a note to see if there was some tedious bureaucratic task to foist off on the man. Something to divert at least some of his attention away from politicking.

There was a discreet knock at the door and a servant entered on silent feet, carrying a tray stacked with more scrolls. Ozai didn't look up - the knock was not a request for permission to enter, it was a confirmation from one of the guards outside that the servant was recognised and not a possible assassin. Such signals were part and parcel of the Fire Lord's life.

The servant sorted the scrolls neatly into the space left by those that Ozai had already examined and collected those that had been discarded. Ozai picked up the first scroll she had brought and cracked the seal, noting that it was his daughter's. The servant flinched at the harsh chuckle behind her as she left the room.

Ozai set his dishes aside for a moment and examined the letter again, reading between the lines. So Lu Ten had shuffled more of the fleet under his own control and Azula was feeling the pressure. Good. His family did their best work when there was a threat to motivate them and it wouldn't do for his daughter to succeed in Ba Sing Se too quickly or easily. She still had much to learn and a canny opponent such as this Long Feng, would be an excellent way for her to learn.

The Fire Lord was hardly unaware of the conflict raging between his daughter and his nephew over the succession. Indeed, he approved wholeheartedly when that same contest could be turned to his own benefit. In this case, Azula would be desperate to secure Ba Sing Se and the attendant glory in order not to be overshadowed should Lu Ten succeed in capturing her traitor brother or the young Avatar.

Either one of the pair would be a notable victory for the young admiral. Not that either or even both would be enough to persuade Ozai to name Lu Ten as the heir apparent: it was bad enough that the presumption that Zuko, as his eldest child, was the heir had ruined the boy. No, as far as Fire Lord Ozai saw, there was no reason at all to make any such declaration. The two contenders could fight that out until one eliminated the other and whether they did so before or after his own eventual demise was a matter of indifference to him. For that matter, he was not an old man and if it was ever convenient to do so, some additional heirs might very well make their appearances. Twenty or thirty years from now, who could say what offspring he might have.

Not via Ursa though, Ozai thought, setting the letter aside at last. Azula was promising, but Zuko was clear evidence that Roku's bloodline could not be relied upon for strength or for loyalty. Still, there was no lack for other noble families who would be happy to receive his favour through a marriage. For that matter, maybe it was time to think about Azula's suitors... or rather, the abysmal lack thereof.

Honestly, the way that she had been pouting about Lu Ten's choice of bride, Ozai was beginning to think that his daughter batted for the other side.

.oOo.

Despite being hairier than anything Mai had ever come across before, M Bison did not appear to be particularly bothered about the tropical heat of the island that - as best she could tell - was the one Zuko had marked on the map. The sky bison had shed an astonishing amount of hair as they flew through the equatorial regions, but had made not the least complaint more than he had done at the south pole. Then again, sky bison had apparently travelled the world routinely with Air Nomads back in the day, so perhaps that indifference came naturally to his kind.

"This place reminds me of the swamp," Toph said as they set up camp on the beach. "Something about the trees..."

Mai glanced around and then nodded. There were some similarities between these trees and the mangroves of the Foggy Swamp. Fortunately, the ground seemed to be considerably more reliable. "If you get the chance, perhaps you can figure out Huu's trick of bending plants," she suggested. "It could be useful if the buildings I saw from the air are this overgrown."

"That bad?" the younger girl asked. She could trace the roots of the trees through the soil inshore of the sands, but the leaves and branches were far harder to make out at this distance.

"Bad enough." Mai finished entrapping the saddle and stepped back to let M Bison work his way out of the heavy leather assembly. Normally he would sleep while saddled allowing for a swift departure at need, but where possible Mai had been encouraged to give him the chance to rest or even graze without it. Whatever they wound up doing on this island, the lack of population made it unlikely that they would need to depart in any sort of haste. "I'm astonished the buildings were even visible, now that I get a closer look at these trees."

Toph used her earth bending to steepen the dunes around their campsite, sheltering them more from any winds. Between that and the mass of M Bison, the only real risk was that of rain and Mai had brought canvas for that very reason, along with bamboo poles that could be used to suspend it above them, warding that away from where they would sleep.

"What do you think you'll find here?" Mai asked as she laid out a fire pit. Tonight's supper would not be as fine as that Fat was no doubt serving to Piandao at this hour, but it would be warm and probably more edible than military rations in the armies of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation.

"I'm not sure," admitted her sister. "Scrolls would probably have rotted away long ago, or simply be taken. But there will be something here that will help with my fire bending."

Mai nodded, not voicing further doubts. "And then?"

Toph sat quietly for a moment. "Then I make war. It's summer now, not much more than two months before Sozin's Comet is in the sky. When that happens, I need to have the Fire Lord and his soldiers focused entirely on something other that obliterating another nation. And the only thing more pressing than that will be the Avatar."

"You've been thinking about it then?"

"Ever since I was playing Piandao at Pai Sho. Strategy, tactics, call it what you will. I need a plan that beats the Fire Lord's plan and all the timing rests on -" and here Toph's voice grew amused "- something I'll be hard-pressed to notice without someone to tell me it's in the sky."

"Do you have any candidates for that someone, little sister?" drawled Mai. She stepped back from the fire pit and Toph blew a plume of fire over the driftwood that they had gathered. It lit up almost immediately and Mai placed the pot, already half filled with clean water from their water bags, on the fire to heat.

Toph grinned. "Let's keep it in the family," she proposed. "Older sister."

"What did you call me?" Mai asked, raising the ladle menacingly.

"The hearing is often the first thing to go. Have any of your hairs turned grey yet?"

.oOo.

It wasn't hard to believe that the city was thousands of years old, Mai thought as she and Toph entered its streets. Paving was cracked and worn more by the elements than by human feet. The buildings, built to a somewhat truncated pattern, the walls angling in towards each other, wider at the ground than the ceilings, suggested ancient building practises, as did the lack of any mortar holding them together. Nothing more than stones piled upon each other. Mai suspected that any sun warriors not killed in the wars as they expanded their empire had migrated to more civilised settlements the first chance they got, leaving nothing more than an empty capital when uprisings tore that nation apart.

Toph liked it, of course.

Rather than risk flying over something important, the two of them had elected to walk through the overgrown streets of the ruined city. Toph had experimented with the trees as Mai hacked her way through the outer layers of the jungle, finding that under the canopy layer of the trees, there was much less undergrowth. By the time they crossed the nebulous boundary between city and jungle, she was able to move aside at least the lighter growth, although they still had to work around the heavier, more established trees.

"This place is a wreck," Mai observed.

Toph pushed another tree branch around so that they could progress further down an alleyway between two small buildings that were almost certainly houses. "Let's be fair. Your room back in Omashu probably looks this bad and we've not even been gone a year."

The thought of her room in Omashu - a room that she'd hated the whole time she was there - sent an entirely unexpected pang of guilt through Mai. Her mother had kept putting potted flowers there as id they would make it better. Of course, for all her supposedly love of plants, Lady Seung didn't exactly have a green thumb. It wouldn't be at all unlike her to have forgotten all about them, leaving a maid to water them while they grew until the entire room was consumed by green.

They crossed into a wider street and Toph turned towards the centre of the city. "There's something larger down that way."

Mai squinted, trying to see past the trees. The buildings did seem higher there, although it might simply be a hill. "That would be fairly near the centre of the city. I suppose important buildings would be there, and probably larger than these ones."

They turned and started walking down the street. For whatever reason, it seemed to be less cluttered. While trees still occupied parts of the road, having forced their way through the paving, but unlike the narrower routes, there was almost always enough space for the two of them to go past without Toph having to force the branches away or - as she had twice so far today - level a building to create a path.

"Stop." Toph held out an arm to block Mai from continuing.

The older girl looked down at her. "What's the matter?"

"I wondered what these were," Toph murmured, kneeling and pulling on a section of vine that crossed the road. Now that Mai saw it, the way it hung was suspicious - just off the ground, around ankle height. A tripwire?

Toph yanked on it sharply and a sizeable section of paving immediately in front of her bare toes sank promptly, by about six inches. The metal spikes that had been hidden between the paving didn't sink though. Mai could envisage someone tripping on the vine and tumbling face first into the spikes. It wasn't a pleasant vision.

"That worked rather smoothly for something centuries old," she observed.

Toph exhaled slowly and made a pushing gesture before standing. "It's been maintained," she guessed. "Someone else is here. Or has been, in the last few years." She stepped down, carefully placing her feet between the spokes as she crossed the depression. "I've blocked this one, it's safe. But keep your eyes peeled. Where there's one trap -"

"- there are bound to be more."

.oOo.

The building at the centre of the city was further away than it had looked. It was also larger than Mai had realised at first, rearing up over the city. Rather than a smooth, or at least regularly stepped exterior, it was a profusion of terraces and stairways. Every vertical surface was carved and ornamental dragons were everywhere, interspersed in some depictions with fire benders but predominantly alone.

"Impressive," Toph conceded. "This must have taken forever to do."

"The great earth bender is impressed? Now I have seen everything."

Toph shook her head. "Sure, I could build something like this. But this isn't the work of an earth bender. Not even of an army of earth benders. This was done by hand. That's quite a project. This must have been a palace or a temple of some kind."

Mai nodded. That made sense. She couldn't think of anything else that would occupy such a central and clearly important location. "Let me guess. Anything important will be right at the top?"

"Either that or underneath it," Toph agreed. "And I can't feel any catacombs down there." She stamped her feet and frowned.

"What's wrong?" A knife dropped into Mai's hand from sheer reflex.

"Something - maybe someone, maybe just an animal - moving in the distance." Toph sighed. "It's the right size for a human... of course, I wouldn't be surprised if a place like this had giant monkeys wandering around."

"Apes."

"What?"

"Not giant monkeys, apes."

"Whatever." Toph set off up the steps and then paused as she felt another vibration through the stone. "_That_ was human feet. Lots of human feet. Up near the top of this thing!"

She set off running. Up the stairs, of course.

Mai smiled thinly and followed. She didn't let go of the knife though. Humans here might represent a link to the long dead sun warriors, to whatever secrets of fire bending lore Toph had been directed here to find... but they were far more likely to represent a threat to her little sister. Or, the world being what it was, both.

Toph's pace slowed as she came closer to the top. Not from exhaustion, although the climb - carried out under the sweltering heat - would be wearisome for someone less energetic. Her concern - and that of Mai, whose longer legs made up for the fact that being post-pubescent she no longer had limitless energy to work with - was of stealth.

The front of the pyramid projected forwards, creating a separate building linked to the main structure by a bridge. The bridge was guarded. The main structure - specifically the area at the other end of the bridge, previously shielded from their view - was occupied by fire benders. Quite a number of fire benders, evenly divided between male and female. The latter was easy to tell, even at this distance, because -

"Does every hidden tribe in the world abhor clothing?" Mai asked under her breath, knowing that Toph would hear the words easily. "First those swamp rats and now this lot."

"Well at least Yue's people wear clothes. I don't care how warm my island makes their city, they'd freeze without them."

Mai chuckled, taking the measure of the two warriors at the near end of the bridge. Young and to judge by the spears, probably not fire benders. Most benders didn't see the need for weapons other than their elements. "I imagine Zuko would be very happy if Yue did adopt the practise." And that possibility didn't hurt any more, how about that?

"Why?" Toph asked with feigned innocence. Then again, nudity probably meant very little to her, Mai admitted privately.

Instead of answering, Mai looked at the benders. They were standing in a circle, passing flames - each in a stylised shape - around it. There was presumably some significance in their eyes and Mai wondered who they were. Some long lost remnant of the sun warriors or a more modern cult who merely imagined that they were? "What are they doing?"

"I'm not sure." Toph placed one hand against the stones, fingers spread. "I think we can get closer it we approach from below the bridge."

Mai looked at the guards, neither of whom could possibly see anything that was directly beneath the bridge that they were standing upon, and the fire benders, who seemed entirely absorbed in their ritual. "Alright. I take it that you have a route down to the base of the bridge?"

Toph smirked and placed her hands together before drawing them apart sharply. A pit opened directly beneath her and the girl dropped silently through it. Mai sighed and hopped into it, what she hoped was a safe distance behind, discovering that the pit was actually the entry to a chute that seemed to spiral around the inside of the pyramid. It was also very fast, reminding Mai entirely too much of Omashu's mail system, and pitch black. By the time she reached the bottom, which thankfully levelled out a bit slowing her to the point that the landing at the bottom - on the paving beneath the bridge - wasn't too noisy. Which wasn't the same as it being painless. Mai shot an irritated look at the back of Toph's head as the other girl opened a hole in the first pillar supporting the bridge for them to walk through.

It only took a few moments to cross the divide, with Toph neatly closing up the holes behind them as leaving evidence of their presence would be almost as bad as being spotted themselves. The murmur of voices above them was clearer but Mai still couldn't make out any words.

"Do you think we should introduce ourselves?" Toph asked.

The corners of Mai's lips curved upwards. "I don't think they'd appreciate the interruption," she said. "And if we do approach them, it might be best to be above them."

Toph nodded, a grin appearing her face. "Let's take the stairs," she suggested, slapping the wall in front of them. "They're right here." The wall opened smoothly, revealing stairs that led a few yards up and inside the pyramid to bare earth. Once they were inside, the wall closed up behind them and Mai followed her sister up the stairs, not concerned when they didn't walk into the earth she'd seen at the head of the stairs as Toph extended the stair upwards ahead of them, closing it behind them as they ascended.

"Earth bending has it's uses," the knife-wielding fire maiden noted.

"It does," Toph agreed. "It's definitely the greatest of all four bending arts."

"Isn't the Avatar supposed to be about balance, and fairness between all four elements?" Mai asked.

"And that's why you know I'm being fair and unbiased."

Mai rolled her eyes in the darkness. "Of course you are. Well, sneaking around like this and avoiding a fight probably counts as helping you with air bending philosophy at any rate. Now if you can figure out how to sense vibrations in the air, you'll be all set."

Toph chuckled from a step ahead of her. "Not really practical. Air's just too unstable for that to work."

"That's a shame," Mai conceded.

"It isn't totally useless," admitted Toph, "It's just too easily distorted to be relied on for anything more than generalities." She stopped walking and Mai, unwarned, took another step upwards before she halted. Two steps ahead of them, the stairs halted, this time against a stone wall she discovered, reaching forward to touch it with one hand. "Someone's sneaky."

Mai frowned. "What's on the other side of this?"

"A mechanism of some kind," Toph told her. "Pressure balanced stones, very complicated. I'm not sure what all of it does but if I try to go through that I could set something off without meaning to."

"Such as?"

"Well," and Mai could have sworn she could _hear_ Toph grinning, "There's a vat of some kind of gluey liquid. Enough to fill a good-sized room. If that starts flooding into a confined space like this..."

Mai shuddered. "I take your point. So, do you think we can work around it?"

Toph started walking again and Mia followed up the last two stairs and then into a tunnel that led off to the right. "Probably the simplest way is just to go around it," the earth bender decided. "There isn't anyone around the back of the pyramid right now, so we can just go up onto the back terrace and climb up that side."

"It sounds like more traps like the one you found earlier," Mai observed. "Which raises the question of what's behind them. Does this fill up all of the top of the pyramid?"

"No, there's a room up above," Toph told her. "Sealed up tight, stone doors and everything."

Mai considered. "Let's see what's up there," she suggested. "It could be important."

A few moments later Toph opened up the ceiling of their route, leaving Mai blinking at the sudden sunlight pouring through the opening. Toph closed up the hole by simply raising the ground beneath them until they were standing on the terrace behind the upper levels of the pyramid. True to Toph's words, there was no one in sight, which seemed odd to Mai, given the guards on the bridge leading to the Pyramid.

"The stairs are all on the other side," Toph told her when the older girl voiced her concerns. "They probably haven't seen an earth bender in generations, as far away from everywhere as you told me this island is, and anyone else would find the sides of the pyramid almost impassable." She raised steps leading up to the next terrace for the two of them, careful to use stone from the floor, not from the walls which might suffer damage to their intricate carvings.

There were similar carvings upon the uppermost level of the pyramid. The apex was as large as a good sized house and capped by a dome, the rear wall marked by two huge dragons carved in relief, breathing fire towards the centre of wall where the shape of a human had been carved, engulfed in the fiery wrath of both.

"How are you going to avoid damaging that?" Mai asked wryly.

Toph smirked and set her feet, taking a deep breath. A moment later and she swung the entire rear wall open like a huge door. "After you, Spiky."

"Show off," Mai murmured and obediently walked inside, with Toph closing the wall behind them. The room within was lit via an opening at the top of the dome that was covered only by a metal grid and while it was dimmer than the light outside, Mai found that a relief, her eyes still adjusting from the darkness inside the pyramid. As it was, she almost gasped at the menacing shapes positioned around the room before realising that they were merely statues and restrained herself from open reaction. "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this isn't it," she admitted.

Toph stalked around the room's floor of interlocking red marble stones until she reached the opening in the circle of statues, by the door. "The stones that move as part of the mechanism are all inside the circle," she told Mai as she entered the area, making it obvious that she was avoiding certain slabs.

Mai looked at the statues. Each was of a man, face obscured by an gruesome mask, wearing the garb of an ancient Sun Warrior and probably one of high stature to judge by the elaborate nature of the clothes and mask that had been sculpted. The two sides more or less mirrored each other, as far as she could tell, each statue positioned in unstable looking poses that were either intended to look as foolish as possible or... well, it could be something to do with bending perhaps. That looked fairly silly when there wasn't fire involved, and sometimes when it was.

"What do you think these are for?"

Toph looked up. "Some sort of fire bending form perhaps. It's also a key."

"A key?"

"The pressure plates are all aligned with where the statues stand. I'm pretty sure that it's activated by having two people execute out the form at once, standing on each pressure plate in turn." Toph frowned and then pointed to the centre of the chamber. "Opening a compartment there although I think there's more to it than that. Whoever came up with this was a mad genius."

Mai shrugged. "Well, are you going to open it up or do you want to approach the celebrants of that little festival outside?"

"They're heading up the pyramid now," reported Toph before answering: "Let's wait for them. I wouldn't like someone going through my super secret hiding places if I had any and we might be asking them for favours."

"Are you learning diplomacy, little sister?" asked Mai.

"I can be diplomatic when I want to. I just don't bother much," Toph said and shrugged.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Ham Ghao was proud to lead the procession of sun warriors up the pyramid towards their destination. Every year, a member of the tribe who had distinguished himself was allowed the honour and this was the second summer solstice that he had been granted the right.

It didn't occur to Ham Ghao that the leader of the procession was the only man amongst them who didn't walk next to anyone. Or that the rest of the tribe considered his smugness over the honour to be an entirely acceptable excuse not to have to walk alongside him for upwards of an hour, listening to what the most sympathetic of ears in the tribe labelled as 'whining and bitching'.

They were nearing the end of the climb now, coming up on the archway that marked the top of the stairs, and the self-absorbed fire bender noticed that the light from the sunstone was now tracking across the keystone to the ancient door that led into the Great Pyramid. Hastening his pace, Ham Ghao led the procession towards the door, each line of sun warriors breaking away to form a circle around the lines laid out on the stones.

As they took position, the keystone reacted to the carefully focused and redirected sunlight; the stone doors slowly sliding open. Because Ham Ghao had lingered to savour his position at the head of the group, he was the first one to see inside the sanctum.

There were two girls inside, facing the doors. Alive, in a chamber that had not been opened for a year. They were alike in appearance - pale skinned with long dark hair in high ponytails, wearing burgundy dresses. Trespassing where even the sun warriors, the heirs to the legacy of a thousand years of the sacred art of fire bending would hesitate to walk. One was clearly still a child in years, the other young but evidently a woman.

"Intruders!" Ham Ghao shouted in warning, calling fire to his hands.

But for the moment he did not attack. He was not unreasonable: the trespassers would be given a chance to surrender themselves.

Behind him, he heard gasps and the fire around his fingers wavered. Turning to look back Ham Ghao saw the light of the day begin to dim. In the sky a black arc of the sun began to vanish, as if being devoured by some terrible beast.

"They've desecrated the sanctum!" he shouted, appalled and pointed through the door. "Kill them!"

Fire lashed out towards the startled pair.

.oOo.

"Very diplomatic," Mai noted as fire hurtled towards them from a half-dozen of the angrier looking fire benders. She watched impassively as the flames guttered away before reaching them. "Good reaction."

"That wasn't me," Toph said bluntly. "There's something happening to their fire bending." She paused. "And mine, I think. Something bad."

Mai nodded and stepped forwards to look out of the door where more than twenty sun warriors were trying to force fire from their hands. "So I see," she said, and then her composure cracked as she glanced up at the sky. "Oh Spirits."

"What?"

"The Day of the Black Sun," Mai whispered. "It's happening again!"

"That... doesn't explain anything," complained Toph, joining her sister at the doorway. "Although I guess by their abject panic, we aren't going to be talking to you guys?" she asked the nearest of the sun warriors, the one who had shouted led the attack.

"Die, outsider!" he shouted, and tried to grab hold of her.

A pillar of rock smashed up from the ground and hurled him back. "No," Toph replied dismissively.

The blackness had consumed almost a fifth of the sun. Mai forced her attention away from it and reached into her dress, pulling out a whistle that the bison herders of the Water Tribe had given to her. "Don't try anything," she warned the fire benders, holding the knife in her other hand to remind them that without their fire bending she and Toph were the only ones armed. She blew into the whistle, creating no sound that she could detect although annoyance flickered across Toph's face as her sharper ears picked up a sound right on the edge of her ability to hear it.

"It's a solar eclipse," Mai explained hurriedly. "For fire benders it's the worst possible omen. We'd better leave and come back when it's all over and they've calmed down."

Above this conversation, the spot of light above the doorway faded as the sunlight being focused upon it was no longer sufficient and the stone doors responded by closing up behind the two girls.

"Over?" Ham Ghao shouted as he scrambled to his feet. "Your meddling with the sunstone is destroying the sun, outsider!"

"Not if this is the Black Sun," his Chief corrected him grimly, stepping forwards. "Such has happened before and the sun has always recovered swiftly. Which does not explain why the two of you were inside the sanctuary. It's clear from your clothes that you are from the southern cities."

Mai relaxed slightly as reason seemed to be breaking out. It seemed lighter as well, the sun not having shrunk any further.

"We came from there, anyway," Toph admitted. "As for being in there, it seemed as good a place as any to wait until your ceremony was over. We didn't know -"

There was a mighty bellow from above and M Bison plunged down onto the little plaza, diving out of the sun in response to Mai's earlier whistle. Unfortunately for all concerned, this resulted in him landing directly in front of Mai and Toph... more or less on top of the sun warrior's chieftain, who was bowled over and left stunned on the ground.

In fairness to Ham Ghao, it wasn't him who screamed: "It's a monster!" In reflex however, he did try to bend fire at the new arrival and to his delight sparks responded. Up in the sky, the darkness that had touched the sun was now moving away from it, never having covered more than a quarter of the disc, and his fire bending was returning.

"Drive the beast away!" the sun warrior shouted, "Capture the intruders!" And absent any other idea of what to do, the rest of the celebrants obeyed, hurling what little flame they could manage at the bison, setting fire to his fur. Annoyed, but not yet hurt M Bison whirled upon them, not waiting for the girls to climb aboard him and threw himself into a short climb that scattered the greatest bulk of his tormenters, flinging several of them down to the next level of the pyramid with bone cracking force.

Mai groaned. "They made him angry," she complained, fanning throwing knives between her fingers.

"Let's just try not to kill anyone," Toph suggested. "Maybe we can still sort this out."

Her sister looked at the sun warriors, now hurling fire with abandon as the sun resumed its full strength, and then at M Bison, who was roaring down on another cluster of the sun warriors. "Sometimes I really wish you could see what you're talking about," she said, putting her knives away and producing her war fans in time to deflect a punch which was thrown at her by one of the more muscular sun warriors. Bringing up the other fan she managed to sweep the man off balance and hurl him face first into the wall beside her.

The sun warrior rebounded off, blood spilling from his face. Not killing anyone still left her with a considerable scope for mayhem.

Toph raised up a wall to deflect fire being directed at her. "I don't think I want them getting reinforcements up here," she decided and gestured towards the steps. With a crunch, the stairs tilted to form a steep slope and there were startled cries and yells of pain as a half-dozen men trying to make their way up it tumbled back to the next level.

Ham Ghao gestured for two of the other sun warriors to flank him as he forced his flames to concentrate to greater heat. "Ha!" he shouted, driving his hands forward and sending a fiery column up at the rampaging mass of M Bison. Unlike the previous attacks, between the sun being uncovered and Ham Ghao's concentration, this was enough to cause more than incidental scorching to the sky bison and he roared in pain... and even more anger.

"Wow. I didn't realise that he could actually get angrier," Toph said calmly as she sank a pair of sun warriors almost knee deep in the stone slabs.

"Just get out of the way!" snapped Mai and pressed herself back against the wall as M Bison barrel-rolled across the plaza still on fire. Ham Ghao and his companions were swept aside easily and then the aggressive sky bison turned around for another pass. The fire benders seemed to be somewhat at a loss as to what to do about this: he was _already_ on fire, what more could they do?

The sun warrior Chief, spared because he was already on the ground, crawled towards the wall, not far from Mai and Toph. "If that is your creature, then call him off!" he demanded.

"He'll calm down in a while," Toph said and reached out with both hands for a moment before drawing them suddenly backwards, the flames leaping away from M Bison's fur - which was now noticeably darker and thinner than before - and coalescing into a globe between her hands. "I'd suggest having your people play dead until he does." She hurled the fire out over the city, causing it to burst like fireworks.

"You're a fire bender?" he gasped. "But..." His eyes looked at where two of his warriors were lying on their backs, unable to flee due to their feet and calves being embedded in the paving. "The Avatar!"

Toph smirked. "Yep. I didn't come here to fight you guys." There was a howl from the level below and M Bison swooped up above the lip of the plaza with a triumphant bellow. "...although I guess that _he_ did."

The Chief glared at her and then raised his voice. "Everyone lay on the floor and play dead until the beast has calmed!" he shouted, his words laced with such authority that not even Ham Ghao, then clinging desperately to the lip of the plaza, a long if not sheer drop to the level below all that awaited him if he released his grip, was inclined to argue. "Even if you are the Avatar, you have no right to interfere in our customs," the man told Toph.

"That was never our intention," Mai told him. "Toph and I came here seeking a fire bending teacher. Her previous instructor proved unsuitable, so we were seeking remnants of the ancient sun warriors. With the extinction of the dragons, their knowledge of fire bending would be the purest remaining source of the art."

He stared at her for a moment, then around at M Bison, currently floating in the air and looking around angrily for prey. "Do you have this effect everywhere you travel?"

Mai shook her head, not in disagreement but in sympathy. "You have _no_ idea."

.oOo.

In the end it took most of the day to settle M Bison and he was still huffing irritably towards any sun warriors who came into view when the sun set over the jungle. Most of said men and women found this a reasonable justification to stay clear of where Toph and Mai had relocated their campsite to: a space between two buildings across one of the ruined highways of the city from the buildings occupied by the sun warriors during their residence in the home of their ancestors. It was clear, however, that the distance would have been maintained regardless.

It was also clear that the buildings were effectively a campsite, albeit a regular one. There were no children in the little settlement, and very few married women. Wherever the true home of the sun warriors was, it was not something that any of them would share and while some of the tribe were relatively affable, Mai knew without Toph telling her that this was a veneer over deeper suspicion.

"I'd say we made a bad first impression," Toph observed quietly as she helped to groom M Bison, carefully removing damaged hair that would otherwise tangle unpleasantly as it grew out.

"Your powers of deduction are growing," said Mai, deliberately not softening the sting of her words by adding 'little sister'. "I suppose we should have realised that the room would be considered important. Then again, I'm not sure if they wouldn't have reacted as badly to our presence outside the pyramid, given the eclipse."

"Yes, and what was that?" asked Toph. "They seemed to think that the sun was _dying_."

Mai swallowed. The sun was important to the Fire Nation, even to those who did not bend fire. "It looked very much like that," she explained. "A blackness, somewhat like a shadow, crossed over the sun, blocking part of its light."

Toph nodded her head, sending her bangs flapping over her eyes. "Okay, so that's why I couldn't see anything. And because it affects fire bending it's considered unfortunate?"

"Unfortunate doesn't cover it," her sister told her. "This was merely a partial eclipse, lasting a moment or two. On the Day of the Black Sun the eclipse was total and lasted several minutes longer, covering might of the Fire Nation. Long enough to turn the tides of empire if those moments were as fatefully timed as they were then."

The younger girl did not pause in her grooming but her lips pursed as she combed through her memory of history lessons, limited somewhat by the fact that she could not study scrolls herself but only work by what was read to her. "How long ago was it?"

"A little over six and a half centuries," Mai told her and let the girl work out the timing for herself.

It only took a moment: "The fall of the Dragon Princes."

"Precisely," agreed Mai. "No one remembers now if the timing was deliberate, opportunism or sheer mischance that the uprisings began that day, but at least a dozen of the princely strongholds were under attack when the sun failed. Thousands of fire benders were killed, unable to defend their princes, and the resultant power struggles almost tore the Fire Nation apart. It took the combined efforts of the Avatar Xatlan and the Order of the Fire Sages to end the wars and most of a hundred years for my people to recover. According to some of my teachers, there are parts of the ancient fire bending lore that were lost forever."

"Although..." Toph said thoughtfully. "The sun warriors predate that, so maybe they can fill some of those gaps. Surely someone came looking for you before now," she added, turning to look at the Chief as he crossed the street towards them.

"They did," he agreed coolly. "The Masters read their hearts, their souls... Those they judged as being unworthy - likely, for example, to advertise our survival here - were destroyed. Those who they spared either kept our secrets, or simply remained here. By all accounts as happily as they would have anywhere else."

Mai tilted her head to one side. "The Masters?"

He nodded confirmation. "In the morning, we will take you both before them. If you are worthy, then they will teach you that which you will need. If not..." He shrugged. "In any event, it's rather too late for you to turn back at this point."

.oOo.

Somewhat before the crack of dawn the next day, a rather sleepy Toph - who had stayed up entirely too late trying to figure out where the Masters were - followed Mai towards a shrine on top of one of the smaller pyramids scattered around the ruined city. The two of them were surrounded by dozens of sun warriors, under the direction of Ham Ghao. Pragmatically speaking, Mai was fairly sure that they could have hopped onto M Bison at any point and just left...

But what would that have accomplished?

An archway at the centre of the shrine was occupied almost entirely by a smokeless fire. Mai had noticed that one of the buildings near the foot of the pyramid showed more sign of habitation than the camp - presumably for attendant to the shrine.

"This is the eternal flame," the Chief instructed them - as much for the benefit of the warriors around the two girls as for them. "The first fire given to man by the dragons, we have kept it alight for thousands of years."

He beckoned to the girls, who stepped forward. "All who go to meet the Masters carry with them a part of it, to show their commitment to the sacred art of fire bending."

Mai cleared her throat. "I'm not a fire bender," she pointed out. "I don't suppose that you have a lantern or something I can use to carry it?"

"No."

"Oh."

The sun chief refrained from smirking as he turned towards the flame and drew a modest globe of fire forth, dividing it between his two hands. "This ritual illustrates the essence of sun warrior philosophy. You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small but make it too big and you might lose control." The fire bender held out his hands towards the two of them.

Toph extended her own hand unerringly and the chief placed one flame into the girl's small hands. Almost immediately she giggled. "It tickles," she said in a surprised voice. "Almost like... like it's alive."

"Fire _is_ life," asserted the man. "Not just destruction." He turned his gaze towards Mai, who warily extended her own hands towards the flame, bracing herself to be scorched when the Chief released his control over it.

To her surprise the fire did not explode when the fire bender removed his hand, nor even fall upon her fingers. Instead it simply remained hovering above her hands, fading slowly until it had reduced itself to nothing.

"That," said a caustic voice from behind them - Ham Ghao's, Mai recognised - "Was a bad start."

"Those are keen powers of observation that you have, Ham Ghao," she said, not looking back. "And also a very large mouth."

There was a ripple of amusement from the other sun warriors and even the Chief's expression softened slightly. "You must now take the fire to the cave of the Masters, beneath that rock." He pointed at where a hill reared up outside the city, capped by two mismatched fangs of stone.

"Come on Spiky," Toph said, turning towards the stair down the pyramid. "I'll share my fire when we get there."

The Chief and Ham Ghao exchanged looks as the two girls descended.

"A very bad start," Ham Ghao concluded. His chief shrugged noncommittally.

.oOo.

"Are you alright?" Mai asked as Toph paused at one of the tougher patches of the hill to climb. The younger girl was frowning at nothing in particular - her blindness giving her little reason to point her face in the direction of whatever was irritating her.

Toph didn't reply at first, instead shifting her feet in a awkward rendition of her usual earth bending. The ground shuddered and then shifted grudgingly into a stair over the obstacle. At the same time, the flame in her hand flickered alarmingly. "Earth bending while I'm fire bending is harder than I expected," she admitted once the fire in her had had steadied.

"Well it's impossible for the anyone else, little sister," Mai pointed out. "We're going to have to add that to your training. It's all very well being able to bend all four elements, but if you can't use them all at once then you'd be no better than a mixed squad of benders."

"Hey!"

Mai smiled slightly. "Which would be unacceptable, of course."

"Of course," Toph agreed, perfectly aware of Mai manoeuvring the situation and playing along. "I'm sure that fitting it in between the fire bending lessons from these Masters, practising water bending on liquid water, trying to learn air bending from scrolls I can't read and keeping my earth bending up to scratch... all that will be easy!"

"That's a great idea," Mai agreed drily. "Where do you want to begin?"

"Earth bending while fire bending, of course," declared Toph and started to force a path into existence up the hill, the fire crackling in her hand as she wound the path back and forth up the slope, creating a slow and easy route. It wasn't as if they were in a hurry, after all.

As a result of the slow and sometimes circuitous route that the two took, the sun was low in the sky by the time that they came around a low hillock between them and the twin peaks and found that most of the sun warriors had beaten them there.

"Finally," muttered Ham Ghao, probably louder than he intended, from behind the Chief. Now unmasked by the terrain, Mai could see a high bridge connecting the two peaks to a broad pillar. A broad, steep stair of stone descended from the top of the pillar to an elaborately paved court where the sun warriors were standing. The sun was just descending behind the bridge, casting long shadows towards them.

"Facing the judgement of the fire bending masters will be dangerous for you," the Chief warned Mai. "It is very rare for anyone not a fire bender to come this far. Also, the decline of the dragons is the work of the Fire Nation, and anyone can see that you are of their ancestry." He turned towards Toph. "That your predecessors did not protect the dragons may also displease them."

Toph shrugged. "I met a dragon in the spirit world," she told him. "He gave me a headache."

The Chief seemed unsure what to say about that. Instead he raised his ceremonial spear (which was capped by an ornamental golden flame motif that would probably be of little use doing anything more that herding leopard goats... baby leopard goats at that) and brought the butt down sharply, jamming it into a small hole in the paving. Reaching out he took part of the flame from Toph and used his own chi to strengthen it before dividing it in two. Ham Ghao and the other sun warrior flanking the chief reached out and took the flames from his outstretched hands.

Around the paving, the sun warriors spread out into a circle, passing the fire one to another. Alternate members of the tribe retained enough to spark fiery circles that they held in front of them, while those between them knelt and began to beat upon drums, sending up a simple but evocative beat as the three sun warriors before Mai and Toph led them to the bottom of the stair.

"Are you afraid, little one?" Ham Ghao asked under his breath as Toph walked past him. Mai winced internally at the thought of Toph breaking up such a clearly important ceremony to take sudden revenge for the insulting query, but instead of breaking into a destructive earth bending move, the younger girl seemed to ignore him completely and started to walk up the stairs beside her sister. After months of travel, the taller Mai didn't have to think about adjusting her pace to Toph's shorter legs.

"That was very mature of you," she said quietly once they were above easy earshot of the sun warriors.

Toph smiled broadly. "Earth benders know all about waiting for the right moment," she said just as quietly. "And that wasn't the right moment." Unspoken: that moment _would_ come and be damned to any threat at the top of the steps.

Someone less disciplined than Mai would have grinned. This was getting interesting.

As the two stepped from the stair onto the top of the pillar, the drums stopped suddenly. The platform that the pillar created was somewhat wider than the bridge extending in either direction. Speaking through a huge curved horn - the size of a sungi horn, Mai thought - a booming voice from the circle of sun warriors announced: "Those who wish to meet the Masters Ran and Shao shall now present their fire."

Toph touched the flames she carried to the cloak she was wearing and the front of the material lit immediately. Mai's eyes went wide and she snatched the garment off Toph's shoulders, almost tearing it as she yanked it out of the young Avatar's belt.

"I was going to give you it anyway," Toph told her drily and turned to her left, facing along the bridge and holding out what remained of the fire, drawing upon her chi to restore it to its previous size. She could feel a cave at each end. Presumably the Masters would emerge from the openings. Mai sighed heavily and held out the bundled garment, fire rising from it, in the opposite direction.

"Sound the call!" roared the chief, clearly audible even without a speaking horn.

Some short distance from the court, a lone sun warrior placed his mouth to a twisted horn, so long that it had to be rested upon the floor, and sounded it, a deep sound that shook stones from the surfaces of the two peaks either side of the bridge.

"I felt that," Toph growled. Then her eyes went wide. "Oma..." she whispered as she felt something truly massive moving beneath the two peaks.

"Do I want to know?"

"Whether you want to or not, you're about to find out," Toph told her.

Toph couldn't see the yellow eyes gleamed in warning before one of the Masters emerged but she could easily hear the hissing snarl as a gigantic red dragon shot out of the cave in front of her, only bending off at the last minute to start circling about the two girls. The dragon was so huge that even circling so widely that it almost brushed both peaks, it was quite literally chasing its own tail.

There was a second rush of air as another dragon, this one blue, emerged from the other peak and began circling.

"Oh. Dragons."

Toph was momentarily more impressed with her big sister's _sang froid_ than she was by the dragons.

"So are they going to question us?" Mai continued evenly as the dragons continued to circle. Fire benders had killed creatures this huge? She was actually a little impressed.

"Roku told me that dragons talk with their minds," advised Toph. "Maybe they already are. What are they doing?"

"Circling."

"Is that good or bad?"

"I have _no_ idea."

Toph shook her head. "Well I'm not going to just stand here. They already know I can do that. Come on, Spiky. Let's fire bend."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I know, I know. But even if you can't bend fire, they're perfectly good moves for kicking someone's ass. You do remember how, don't you?"

"You're unbelievable," Mai sighed and shifted into the starting stance for the simplest of the forms that she knew, trusting Toph to recognise it. "From the beginning?"

"Yeah, let's show them everything," Toph said and Mai anticipated by the shift of her breathing when to begin her own movements. The two girls set out, mirroring each other as they began the first and simplest kata that the Fire Nation taught to fire benders. Neither hurried. This wasn't battle were speed was second only to accuracy in importance. It was a demonstration: showing these two fire bending masters what the two of them were capable of... and what they were not.

Ran and Shao continued to circle, watched distantly by the sun warriors below as the two fire maidens moved through the almost dancelike forms of fire bending as the sun descended below the horizon.. The forms that the pair used had shifted over centuries from the traditions that had begun in this very place but that were still rooted here. As darkness fell, the only light was that of the fire wheels held by the sun warriors kneeling below - sufficient for Mai to still make out the edges of the pillar.

"Feeling better?" Mai asked as they came to the end of one of the more advanced kata that she knew - which wasn't close to reaching the limits of what Zuko had taught to Toph during her short apprenticeship.

"Yes." Toph said. "We should keep going, I think they like it."

Mai didn't turn aside but the next time her line of sight intersected with the poorly illuminated face of one of the dragons, she saw no signs of it. "How can you tell?" she asked.

"We aren't dead."

"Yet," Mai told her as she jumped and kicked. A fire bender would have hurled fire a dozen yards from the force behind the move. She was hard-pressed to keep hold of the now uncomfortably warm cloak, little left to spare her hand from the fire. "I don't know much beyond this."

"Then we'll improvise," Toph decided. "Remember the statues in the pyramid?"

"I don't know that form either." Mai sighed as she finished the form. The last, most advanced form that she had been taught. "So we'll learn it together."

Toph laughed. "That's the spirit!" She had manoeuvred to stand next to Mai as they completed their last form and both rose to stand on one foot, the stance used by the first statues in the circular arrangement they had found the previous day.

When they finished, standing on the far side of the platform, fists almost touching, Mai was almost embarrassed at how clumsy she had been. The form was different from those that she was used to and she had almost stalled twice, hesitant over how to transition between the stances. Give her honest steel any day. She looked up and froze. The face of one of the dragons - the red one - was only a few feet ahead of her own, eyes fixed upon her own. She could feel its hot breath against her face.

Behind Mai there was a soft thump of flesh on flesh and an affronted growl that could only be from the other dragon. "Little sister... did you just attack the dragon?"

"Punched it in the nose," the younger girl said somewhat triumphantly.

In unison the two dragons landed upon the sides of the pillar, gripping it with their talons, heads just barely above the bridge. The sound was shockingly loud. They drew back their heads, breathing in.

As if it would be any use, Mai dropped into a defensive stance against the fire that rushed out at her. It was not the orange flame she had expected, or even the famous blue flames that Azula favoured. These flames were golden, with traces of other colours threaded through it in a rich, roaring tapestry. Dragons' fire was clearly very different from that of human benders. And why should it be the same? she wondered.

Shouldn't I be dead?

Behind her she heard Toph slump to her knees as the flames came to an end and Mai whirled to catch her sister as the small girl keeled over to the side, eyes wide... and somehow more empty than she had ever seen them before.

.oOo.

Ran and Shao coiled, serpent-like, and then each darted back inside the caves that they called home.

"Well that's it," Ham Ghao said with some degree of vindication as he saw that the two girls were no longer standing on the pillar. "I'm surprised they weren't eaten. I guess the dragons thought that they might be poisonous."

The chief shot him an irritated look. "Maybe. Or maybe Ran and Shao spared them." He smiled. "Go up there and check."

Ham Ghao pouted and then made his way up the stairway as behind him his fellow sun warriors extinguished the fire wheels and prepared to leave. Their mood was solemn - even if it was their duty to place intruders before the Masters for judgement, it seemed a shame for two such young women to have been found unworthy.

Their mood was lightened when several of the steps ceased to be steps, causing Ham Ghao - then standing upon them - to fall flat on his face and then tumble back down the floor when his feet suddenly lost their purchase upon the stone.

"That was the right moment," an amused voice announced from above them and a light kindled at the top of the stairs (which promptly resumed their usual shape), revealing Toph holding a handful of flames. The small girl was leaning heavily against Mai, who half-carried her down the steps.

"You don't say," the older girl drawled, steadying Toph as she reeled slightly, legs still not steady under her.

"I do!" Toph said brightly. "I showed that dragon a thing or two!" Then her chin dropped to her chest and Mai had to support her full weight as the young Avatar went limp.

The Chief couldn't resist joining the rest of his tribe in laughter as Mai lifted the scrappy little earth bender in her arms. "You have a remarkable little sister," he noted as Mai reached the bottom of the steps and made a point of stepping on Ham Ghao on her route towards the chief. The sun warrior grunted in pain but sensibly did not actively protest.

"Yes, she's sure to regularly remind me of it," agreed Mai coolly. "So. What now?"

"Now that you have learned the secrets and you know about our tribe's existence... we have no choice but to -" He looked at her face and decided against joking on the matter. "- trust that you won't tell anyone."

"Just like that?"

"If the Masters like you, who are we to argue?" the Chief said expansively. "And since we aren't mourning your foolish and pointless deaths, there will be a feast to honour the fact that you're alive. Although we might want to wait until your sister wakes up."

"Are you sure that you don't want us to be gone before she wakes up?"

"I do," Ham Ghao mumbled from behind them.

The Chief laughed and retrieved his ornamental spear. "What sort of feast would it be without the guests of honour?"


	16. Chapter Fifteen

"I didn't get a chance to say this earlier," Lu Ten said pleasantly as he stood by the rail of the ferry. "Congratulations on your conquest of Ba Sing Se."

Azula smiled pleasantly. "Well there was nothing else for it, cousin. If it had taken any longer then I wouldn't have been able to attend your wedding."

"It wouldn't have been the same without you," the Prince Admiral assured her. "Ty Lee was ecstatic to hear you would make it." Traditional Fire Nation weddings - and as a member of the royal family Lu Ten's wedding had had to be very traditional - had only the immediate families in attendance for the ceremony itself, which was carried out by the bridegroom's immediate feudal lord - in this case the Fire Lord himself. As a result, while Ty Lee's parents and sisters had filled the bride's side of the ceremony entirely, Azula's presence had doubled those on Lu Ten's side.

"Since we're talking business," the princess added, "With all those time-consuming ceremonies, I wasn't able to catch up on your reports from the south. Have any traces of my brother been found?"

Lu Ten shook his head. "There has not been a single sign of him. In fact, the entire Water Tribe appears to have disappeared. We combed the coast of the South Pole from end to end and couldn't find a single village, not even the one where Zhao claimed he had fought Zuko. The only clue we found were traces of some temporary settlements on the islands around the Southern Air Temple."

Azula frowned. "The Water Tribe are much diminished, but I hardly think that they would be so accommodating as to simply disappear."

"That's one reason that I won't be returning to the south immediately," her cousin explained, turning to lean his hips against the wooden rail. "I established a garrison near the southern air temple to alert us if the Water Tribe return there and the same must be done for the other temples. I myself will take my fleet and search the coastline of the North Pole in case the Water Tribe have returned there. They will not stray far from open water, wherever they have settled."

"I see." Azula tapped her chin. "With the fall of Ba Sing Se, the pressure upon our armies in the Earth Kingdom has been reduced. It should be a simple matter to redirect them to search for signs of the Water Tribe, in case they have found refuge there somehow." So once the honeymoon was over, Lu Ten was going to be surrounded by loyal sailors and officers. That would make it significantly more difficult to get an assassin close to him.

Oh well, so much for Ty Lee enjoying the full two weeks of her honeymoon on Ember Island. Azula would have to send for the assassin directly.

"Are you two talking business?" asked Ty Lee, emerging onto the ferry deck, barefoot and wrapped in a light robe. "This is supposed to be our honeymoon, Azula. I'm not going to let you steal Lu Ten away to the war just yet."

The two cousins laughed. "I'm sorry sweetheart," Lu Ten apologised, sweeping her into his arms. "No more talk of the war. Look, isn't that Ember Island up ahead?"

Ty Lee squirmed in her husband's arms, although Azula wasn't sure if she was looking for the famous resort or just rubbing against Lu Ten. Wait a minute, yes she was sure. "I'll leave the two of you alone," she said, retreating towards the door, suddenly grateful for the fact that she would be borrowing the relatively modest cabin used by her teachers Lo and Li, rather than sharing the royal residence with the newlyweds.

.oOo.

Toph was fire bending in the saddle. Mai could tell without even looking back from the saddle, the crackle of the flames something she was hypersensitive to after the encounter with the dragons. Probably that would wear off around the same time as the dreams where the dragon fire _had_ been intended to kill them. She had to admit it though: between the dragons and a few days coaching from the sun warriors, Toph's fire bending had come on by leaps and bounds.

"So, are you a master fire bender now?" she asked, not looking back. Having been burnt by the sun warriors, M Bison was understandably a little concerned about having a fire bender on his back and Mai considered it prudent to keep a very close eye on his more aggressive tendencies.

Toph snorted. "Not even close, Spiky. Ran and Shao pointed me in the right direction but it's going to take a while. Still - it is better. If we can find somewhere I can train, somewhere remote where no one will spot us, I figure I should be passable with fire and water before Sozin's Comet arrives."

"Passable," Mai said thoughtfully. "But only in three elements. How is air coming along?"

"Not well." Toph confessed. She was silent for a long moment and then snuffed out the fire with a click of her fingers. Mai flinched. "It's kind of annoying and reassuring at the same time. I'm proud of how good I am at earth bending. Thinking that that was all being the Avatar would be annoying. But comparing it to air bending... it's not the same. Being Avatar might make me strong... but skill? That takes work."

Mai chuckled. "You're philosophical today."

"I must have hit my head when they decided to poke around in it."

There was a shuffling as Toph began to work on her air bending katas. Perhaps having evolved for that very purpose, it was actually possible to perform them on the back of a flying sky bison. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere we can pick up supplies. There aren't many places way out in the middle of nowhere in the Fire Nation," Mai explained. "Most of the islands are too populated for your sort of training to go unnoticed. Volcanoes are rather obvious after all."

"That was just the once. And you didn't need to tell the sun warriors about it." The chief had been very enthusiastic about their need to move on after hearing that story from Mai. "Their island would have been fine for training."

"Not until they invent soap. Anyway, Ember Island isn't all that far."

"Never heard of it," Toph told her. "What's it like?"

Mai shrugged. "A resort town. Lots of brainless boys and girls looking to impress each other. They'll be too absorbed in each other to notice if M Bison landed right on the main beach. My family has a summer house there that we can use while we stay. It's closed up while they're in Omashu."

"Do you miss them?" Toph asked.

"Do you miss your parents?" Mai shot back and regretted it immediately.

"I miss them being my parents, not my jailors," answered Toph, breaking off from her form and climbing forward out of the saddle to stand behind Mai, hands on the older girl's shoulders. "I miss when I didn't know that they never told anyone they had a daughter. When they weren't ashamed of me."

Mai placed one of her hands over Toph's. "I'm sorry."

"Eh, I'm pretty much over it. I've got a sister, right? Who else do I need?"

"Same here. Why would I miss my parents when I've got you?"

M Bison grumped beneath them.

"You don't count," the two girls told him in unison.

.oOo.

"Do you think anyone will recognise you?" Toph asked as M Bison flew over Ember Island late in the evening. Mai had timed the approach carefully, to arrive when the sun was not in the sky and the thousands of lanterns illuminating the town for the revellers would make it almost impossible for them to see anything in the sky above them. Fortunately, the moon was only a crescent, but even so, Mai had picked the route carefully to avoid coming between it and the town as they flew towards her family's summer house.

"It's unlikely," she replied. "There might be a few of my former schoolmates on Ember Island but none of them have seen me for years and I was only close to two of them."

Toph chuckled. "The famous Princess Azula and her ego?"

"I think Azula mostly enjoyed having me around to use against her brother," Mai noted. "I didn't count her ego as a friend. But she doesn't leave the capital often, and then only on missions for the Fire Lord. I can't think of any reason she'd come to Ember Island."

"That's almost a shame," Toph admitted. "You said she was some sort of fire bending prodigy, almost as good at that as I am at earth bending. If we weren't enemies then it would be interesting to meet her."

"If only because the two of you would be enemies within minutes of you talking to her," agreed Mai drily. "If I'd known you were interested, I would have got you one of the propaganda scrolls detailing her many virtues. Of course, then I'd have to read it to you, so perhaps it's best I didn't."

"Your commentary alone would be worth it."

M Bison landed in one of the side yards of the house, one that had doubled as a stable yard at one point and was now serving as storage for anything not likely to be damaged by the weather. Without any significant light to guide her, Mai misjudged the landing slightly and M Bison crushed a table beneath one foot as he landed. She winced at the sound but there was no apparent reaction from the house.

"Well, if anyone is here, I think they would have heard that," Toph told her and slid down M Bison's side, landing on the paving. She rubbed her feet against the ground and shrugged. "No, we're the only ones nearby. The house looks really nice."

"It's terribly gaudy and my mother decorated it in the most extraordinary bad taste," Mai told her, not rising to the joke. "Somehow, I was sure that you'd approve." She rose to her feet and walked back along M Bison to the saddle. "My usual rooms are upstairs, but there's a lounge in the wing on the left with a tiled floor and some couches. The room with the fountain."

"Got it," Toph agreed. "Seems to be some pretty big furniture there - couches?"

Mai unstrapped the bags with their belongings from the saddle. "I'm not as fond of sleeping on bare earth as you are," she explained and slung the bags carefully to the ground. "Take the bags there while I get the saddle off M Bison and then we can get some sleep. We've got a lot to do tomorrow so we'll have to be up at the crack of noon."

"What, first thing in the afternoon?" Toph objected. "That's a bit early isn't it?" Neither of them were particularly early risers by preference, although Mai had been having restless mornings lately.

"Most visitors shop early and then enjoy the beaches during the day," explained Mai. "If we shop during the heat of the afternoon, there won't be so much of a crowd and less chance of running into someone I've met before."

Toph picked up the bags - neither was huge, as the girls hadn't managed to hold onto all that many belongings between the two of them, but in combination they were a hefty load for the twelve year old. "And if you do run into someone you know?"

"Then my name is Kotare, and your name is Ilah and we have no idea who Mai and Toph might be. And then we get off Ember Island fast and I don't care how obvious it is."

.oOo.

Mai groaned and dragged her the cloak she was using as a blanket up over her face as the sun streamed through the gaps between the window shutters. The sun had dragged her awake - why hadn't she remembered that this room faced east? - after only a few hours and since then the fire maiden had been too restless to get back to sleep. She'd heard Toph wake - raised by the sun, as if she were any other fire bender - but the smaller girl had had no difficulty curling up again on the floor in her nest of blankets. Probably because she couldn't see the sunlight.

Later on, Mai blamed lack of sleep on her part and an over-abundance of that on the part of Toph for what happened next.

Which was the sound of the door to the room being pushed open and two small feet pattering inside before closing the door. Mai was sleepily shuffling blankets aside to look at who the feet belonged to before she had fully processed the situation and a shot of adrenaline yanked her awake at about the same moment that she locked eyes with a surprised small child, the toddler's still thin black hair forming a familiar scalp lock.

"Mai!" Tom-Tom declared in delight, beaming at her.

"'s called Kotare an' we're leavin'," Toph mumbled from her blankets and rolled over, without waking.

"Mai!" repeated the girl's infant brother, even louder.

"...wake up," Mai snapped harshly, hoping that her tone would get through to Toph. She was rewarded when the girl stretched, rolled... and kipped to her feet.

Sensitive to the tone of voice, if not the meaning of Mai's words, Tom-Tom stared in confusion at his sister. His chubby cheeks began to redden with emotion and he toddled towards her, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

Another familiar voice spoke from outside the door. "Tom-Tom! Tom-Tom! Where are you?"

"Are we still sticking with the Ilah and Kotare plan?" Toph asked very quietly, grabbing up her bag.

Before Mai could say anything in response, the door swung open and an immaculately made up Fire Nation noblewoman wearing mourning colours entered, followed by two harried looking servants. The woman's eyes settled first upon Tom-Tom and then, inevitably, upon the focus of the toddler's attention. Her skin, already fashionably creamy, paled further and she visibly swayed, one of servants seizing her elbow to support her. The other pushed past the stricken woman and snatched up a startled Tom-Tom, who objected with a loud wail.

"No," Mai decided regretfully. "...I'm guessing there are a lot more people around us than when we went to bed."

Toph grimaced. "Lots and lots of them. Some of them are heading for where M Bison is sleeping. And now some of them are heading here."

"M-Mai?" asked the woman. "Little Toph? You're alive?"

Mai looked resigned. "Yes mother," she admitted.

Her mother stepped forwards, actually breaking out of the dignified shuffle expected of a highborn woman and threw her arms firmly around her daughter. "Oh thank Agni! You're alive!"

The girl's eyebrows rose and she slowly - reluctantly - returned the embrace, patting her mother gently on the back. That wasn't exactly the reaction that she had anticipated, still less the tears that the woman was shedding.

What followed couldn't be called an awkward silence, given Tom-Tom's cries and his mother's grateful sobbing, but the servants looked unsure of what to do and Toph didn't want to say anything in case she got targeted for a similar hug to the one that Mai was enduring. The impasse was broken when two guards looked cautiously into the room.

"My lady," the older in appearance of the two guards spoke. "There is some great beast within the old stable yard. The servants are afraid to enter the area."

"Just leave him alone and he won't disturb anyone," Toph told the man. "On second thoughts, put a guard there to prevent any children from wandering in. I don't think he eats meat, but he might stand on someone by mistake."

Lady Seung drew back in slight concern as the younger guard left, obedient to his superior's nod. "You brought a monster here?"

"He isn't a monster, mother," Mai explained somewhat wearily, even though she'd barely said anything to the woman yet. "He's just... rather large and inconsiderate."

"You almost sound fond of him, Spiky."

"He's the most dangerous animal I've ever seen, little sister - which is quite impressive. Of course I like him." Mai tried to subtly break her mother's grip, with no success.

"D-dangerous animals?" Seung asked tremulously tremulously. "Oh Mai! What have you been doing? And how could you worry us so? We all thought..." She sobbed slightly and drew Mai closer with one arm before letting go with the other to try to pull Toph into her embrace. "Thought you had both been killed."

Toph backed up. "No hugging," she warned.

Seung gave her a motherly look. "It's alright Toph. I know you must have had a frightening time but you're safe now. Your parents will be so proud of you. They were beside themselves with grief when they came to Omashu."

The girl's lips parted but no noise came out at first, her distraction testified to by the fact that she was firmly entrapped in the hug before she could gather her wits. "They went to Omashu?" she gasped out as Mai's mother squeezed her.

"Of course," Mai's mother confirmed. "Your father wanted to know everything about your time living with us. He couldn't believe at first that you had been - are - a fire bender. The two of you must be very close. He'll probably come all the way here when I tell him you're alive."

Toph's eyes went wide in absolute terror and Mai quickly locked her own free arm around the younger girl and lifted her off the ground before she could start earth bending. "Let's all sit down," she suggested firmly and pulled deliberately back from her mother, forcing Toph to take a seat next to her. "We can have tea and you can tell me all about what you've been doing since I last saw you."

"What a wonderful idea," Seung agreed decorously and beckoned imperiously for the servant to hand over Tom-Tom. She seated him in her lap as she settled onto the opposite couch, cooing over her 'brave little soldier boy' until he stopped crying. "After you..." she paused and dabbed gently at her eyes with a handkerchief, "...after you vanished, your father decided that Tom-Tom and I should live somewhere safer than Omashu."

"And you came here, rather than the capital?"

Seung lowered her face. "I persuaded your father than Ember Island would be safer. Prince Zuko's disappearance left our family open to criticism within the court." She sighed. "I only returned to visit the capital a few days ago, for the royal wedding."

Mai raised her eyebrows. "The royal wedding? Don't tell me that Azula found a man who could put up with her?"

"Not Princess Azula, dear. Prince Lu Ten and your old friend Ty Lee. She was such an adorable bride and he looked so handsome." Seung sighed. "Just think, if Prince Zuko hadn't vanished, you could also be joining the royal family."

"I didn't feel that way about Zuko," Mai said straightfacedly. She wasn't even lying any more. "Is he dead do you think or just missing?"

Seung shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry Mai, I know that you're very fond of him but as he hasn't reappeared by now the consensus is that he's dead. It's only to spare Lady Ursa's feelings that no funeral has been held yet. The poor woman is a wreck, only Princess Azula was able to bring her out of her shell when she returned home for the wedding. Goodness knows how she's doing now that Azula has come here."

Mai's heart almost stopped beating. "Azula's here?"

"Why yes, dear. She was travelling with the happy couple when they set out on the honeymoon so she'll have been here for a few days now. The Fire Lord sent her here to rest after having to spend so long in Ba Sing Se, she must be exhausted." Mai's mother brightened. "We can invite them all to a dinner! Your friends will be so glad to find that you're alive, and its years since you've seen Prince Lu Ten. We can write the invitations as soon as I've written to your father and to Toph's parents." She turned to Toph. "You'll adore Azula, everyone does."

Toph lowered her face demurely. "I'm sure that the Princess and I could be great friends." Butter would not have melted in her mouth. "But would it not be insensitive to celebrate our return when her own brother remains missing?"

Oh, that was a good try, Mai noted. Although knowing her mother...

With a wave of her hand, Seung dismissed the objection. "Nonsense, Toph. Good news like this will surely lift her mood. Now, you'll have to tell me where you've been and what possessed you to let your hair down like that. It's a terribly daring style."

She didn't ask why we left, Mai noted in surprise. Why not? "It makes us less likely to be identified," she said. "What Toph is trying to avoid discussing is that we are facing a political problem."

Seung paled. "Oh Mai, I thought I taught you better than that. Politics is for men, dear. We shouldn't get involved in that sort of thing."

"We haven't been given the choice in that," said Mai bluntly. "If we're found, we will be killed. If it is learned that you know that we are alive then you -" she looked at the servants and the remaining guard "- all of you will probably be killed. Including Tom-Tom."

Her mother gasped and drew the little boy closer. "Mai!"

"So you see, it would be best not to invite old friends - old friends who are highly connected and would draw all sorts of attention."

"But surely they would help you," offered Seung hopefully. "You know Princess Azula has her father's ear and the Prince Admiral is also highly influential. Whoever your enemies are..."

Mai thought quickly. "I don't think that you understand how highly placed these enemies are, mother. The entire incident at Omashu was a trap for Prince Zuko, arranged by elements inside the Fire Nation who wanted to remove him from the succession," she lied. "There are two obvious people who could benefit from that, and whichever of them it is, they must be aware that the Fire Lord would never tolerate that level of infighting within the royal family." Another lie, this one so ridiculous that only someone so determinedly averse to politics as her mother would believe the facade of unity within the royal family that Ozai went to pains to present.

"You -" Seung almost squeaked. "You can't possibly be saying that Princess Azula or Prince Lu Ten would conspire to murder Prince Zuko?"

"What's not to believe?" Toph asked bluntly. "When Sozin's Comet comes back, the Fire Nation will win the war. Whoever rules the Fire Nation at that point will be the most powerful person alive. In political terms, that's about the highest prize that exists. You think people wouldn't fight for it?"

Seung sighed and looked away, wrapping her hands around her son's small fingers. "That's not something that's ever spoken of," she said after a moment and then turned to the servants, both pale-faced, and the guard, who was staring into the middle distance, apparently pretending that he had heard none of the conversation. "It is not something that has been spoken of today," she told them in a commanding tone that Mai had virtually never heard her use. "Because my daughter... my daughters are not here and this conversation did not happen. Please ensure that my son and I are not disturbed in this wing."

The functionaries mumbled understanding and retreated gratefully from the room, leaving near silence that Tom-Tom filled with cooing towards his sister.

"He missed you," Seung said sadly. "So did I. And we're going to miss you again, aren't we. Since you aren't staying?"

"We'll be quiet about leaving," Mai said, somewhat caustically. She wasn't quite as surprised by the flood of tears this time.

.oOo.

"What do you think of this?" Ty Lee asked, picking up an ornamental tea pot from a market stall and showing it to her husband. It was bronze and heavier than it looked, but the extensive ornamentation suggested that it wasn't intended for its ostensible purpose anyway.

Lu Ten ran one callused hand across the ornamentation. "It's excellent workmanship," he approved, "And from what you have said, Lady Seung would be pleased with it. But you said that she has a young son?"

"Yes, he must be two years old by now. I bet he's adorable," confirmed Ty Lee.

"No doubt. But the ornamentation on this is sharp edged," the prince warned. "If he got his hands on this, he might hurt himself." Lu Ten replaced the tea pot on the stall and lifted another, this one with less prominent ornamentation and some brass fittings. "How about this one?"

His bride clapped her hands together. "It's perfect!" Then her eyes narrowed. "But we should get a present for the little boy as well! How could I have forgotten? What do little boys like?"

Lu Ten grinned and swept her up in a hug. "Much the same as larger boys," he told her giving her a discreet squeeze.

She squealed but did not resist instead teasing her husband. "Well perhaps I should let him have a play then."

"Ah no," he said hastily. "I'm going to have to exert my jealous husband privileges. Perhaps give him a stuffed toy - a rabbit monkey or the like perhaps."

"That would be so _adorable_!"

Yes, Lu Ten noted to himself, he was a tactical genius. Ty Lee would buy a cute stuffed rabbit monkey - perhaps two, one for herself and one for her dead friend's baby brother - and then the shopping would be over and they could go back to the mansion to freshen up before visiting Lady Seung. And before they freshened up, they might get a little sweatier. I love this girl, he admitted. She makes me feel sixteen again.

They were examining a stall of stuffed rabbit monkeys and Ty Lee was apparently intent on testing each and every one of them for cuddliness when a shadow passed across her eyes. If Lu Ten hadn't been studying her face affectionately then he would have missed it, but he was and he had to force down instinctive reaction to what it meant.

Danger.

Instead of sweeping her up and throwing her to safety behind the stall before turning to confront whatever threat was behind his back, the Prince Admiral took a measured step forwards and rested one hand upon his wife's shoulder. With his other hand he scooped up the stuffed toy that to his eye had received the most positive response from Ty Lee. "I think this one is the best," he suggested firmly and then lowered his lips to her ear, whispering: "What's the matter?" so softly that even the shopkeeper wouldn't be able to overhear.

The girl clutched the toy with ostensible agreement and reached for her coin bag, her face innocent of anything but pleasure at her husband's attention. "The man with a tattoo on his forehead," she whispered.

Lu Ten's lowered face would make it hard for anyone to see that his eyes flicked around to check the area in front of him. No such tattoos were in evidence, so whoever the man was, he was behind the prince. Between them and the royal holiday home.

"He's an assassin," Ty Lee whispered, very careful not to let the shopkeeper hear her.

Lu Ten stepped back from her and half turned, apparently casually looking around. "We should clean up before dinner," he suggested. There – a bald, broad-shouldered man with a stylized eye marked above his nose. For a moment the young Admiral wished that his training had entailed avoiding assassins, it would make it easier to keep Ty Lee safe. But his uncle's teachings were straightforward: the best way to handle an assassin was to eliminate him, ensuring that others would fear to attack you.

Ty Lee nodded enthusiastically and rubbed her face against the toy rabbit monkey before tucking it into her satchel and seizing Lu Ten's elbow. Her face betrayed no trace of fear and he reflected for a moment on his good fortune. But that was a distraction and he set that thought aside as they wove through the crowded street towards their temporary home and the man in their path.

He watched the assassin only out of the corner of his eye. Timing would be everything here. Giving the man advance warning would almost certainly lead to his death.

The two were still outside optimal range for a sudden firebending strike when Lu Ten saw the assassin's real eyes lock onto his. Damn. He knows that I know he's...

There was a crack like thunder as ki ripped across the street towards the Prince Admiral.

.oOo.

To Azula's annoyance the crowd responded to the sudden display of firebending, albeit the unusual form used by this assassin, by feeling like panicked sheep. For once the concern was less national pride (the Fire Nation were a nation of warriors, by Agni!) and more to do with the fact that she was jostled and her view of her cousin blocked at the critical moment.

By the time that she had managed to discreetly convince the fleeing shoppers that she should not be jostled - and three of them were limping as reminders to be more courteous to incognito princesses in the future - Lu Ten lay on the floor, Ty Lee apparently pinned to the ground by her husband's body across her legs. It was ridiculous to think that someone as agile would have been caught like that unless she had deliberately been tangling her feet with Lu Ten's, which meant...

Either Lu Ten had avoided the attack and Ty Lee had loyally tripped him to leave Azula's rival open to a second attack or Ty Lee had pre-emptively tripped Lu Ten to move him out of the path of the attack. Either way, Lu Ten was not dead yet. Azula's lips curled. Was she going to have to take care of this personally? No, wait, the assassin was moving in for a certain kill.

Of course, by doing so, the man was abandoning his advantage of greater range and the instant that he was inside Lu Ten's range Azula's cousin sprang to his feet, his dynamism such that Azula could almost feel his ki. He was impressive, she admitted. If he hadn't been close kin, hadn't been as ambitious as she... The smirk on her lips could have been for the irony of the thought or more probably at the startled expression that crossed his face as flames failed to rush at the assassin, or to manifest at all. It would seem that Ty Lee had come through after all.

Turning away, the princess ran for the nearest side street. It simply wouldn't do to be spotted on the scene of her cousin's oh-so-tragic demise. While dramatically appearing to strike down the assassin would clean up several loose ends, it would also arouse suspicion. No, better to tidy matters up out of sight and to leave no sign that she was ever anywhere near the scene of the crime.

She was at the corner before she registered that there had not been the sizzling report of the killing attack upon her defenseless cousin. Half-turning she saw Lu Ten slam a kick into the assassin, the larger man blocking with his forearms and then striking down at the shorter prince with one metal-clad fist. What was that idiot doing! Why wasn't he... Why was it suddenly so dark? Worse than having a cloud pass in front of the sun.

Glancing skyward, Azula saw a dark disc across the face of the sun.

When she looked down again, mind furiously calculating the consequences and likely outcome, she was looking straight into Ty Lee's eyes.


End file.
